Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged that Ukrainian forces have moved into Russian territory days after news of the incursion first broke.
Zelensky, who assumed office in 2019 and has been the wartime leader of Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia, confirmed the counteroffensive during a Saturday address to the nation. Last week, Ukrainian forces entered Russia’s Kursk Oblast in a surprise for Moscow.
The 46-year-old leader said during a broadcast that Ukrainian forces are progressing in their effort “to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory.”
“Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed — pressure on the aggressor,” Zelensky said.
Russia has responded to the counteroffensive into the Kursk region with antipathy, vowing that Russian troops will deliver a “tough response” to the attack. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the “perpetrators of these crimes … will be held accountable for them,” according to CNN.
“A tough response from the Russian Armed Forces will not be long in coming,” she added. Zakharova said that in the past 24 hours, Ukraine launched “a large-scale drone attack” against several regions of Russia.
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Russia launched attacks against nearly a dozen Ukrainian regions over the weekend and targeted Kyiv, the capital and largest city in Ukraine, according to the Kyiv Independent.
The Russian war against Ukraine began in February 2022 when Russian forces launched a mass invasion of Ukraine’s territory. Moscow faced global condemnation for the action, which has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of troops and civilians.