Offensive in Kursk: Ukraine strikes back amid escalating conflict

The offensive in the Kursk region is ongoing. Mykhailo Podolak commented on actions within the territory of the Russian Federation. "The only reason for the escalation in Russia's war against Ukraine is Russia's unconditional aggression on our country," stated the advisor to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Thursday at 09:00 GMT.

"There is only one reason for the escalation, shelling, military actions, forced evacuations, and the destruction of ordinary forms of life, including within Russia itself, such as in the Kursk and Belgorod regions. (It is) the very fact of Russia's unconditional aggression - its attempts to seize foreign territories and (the Kremlin's) disregard for international law, which clearly defines the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity," wrote Podolak on Telegram.

Zelensky's advisor stated that Russia's actions lead to its "self-destruction."

"And the author of the 'self-destruction of Russia' concept is also well known: it is (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin. Therefore, the conclusions are absolutely clear... Russia has always believed that legal norms do not apply to it, and thus it can attack the territories of neighbouring countries with impunity and hypocritically demand... the inviolability of its own territories," he emphasised.

"But war is war, which has its own rules, and in which the aggressor always reaps appropriate rewards," Podolak concluded.

During one of the largest attacks on Russian territory since the beginning of the war, around 900 Ukrainian soldiers breached the Russian border into the Kursk region on Tuesday morning with tanks and armoured vehicles under the cover of drones and artillery, reported Reuters on Thursday, citing Russian officials.

Ukrainian forces moved through border fields and forests north to Sudzha, the last Russian gas pumping station to Europe before the border.