Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Thursday (8) that Russia’s aggressiveness was the reason for any escalation of the conflict, which would include the events in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions.
“The main reason for any escalation, shelling, military actions, forced withdrawals and destruction of normal life forms, including within its own (Russia) territories, such as the Kursk and Belgorod regions, is exclusively Russia’s unchallenged aggression,” Podolyak wrote in X.
Russia said Ukrainian forces had entered its southern border on Tuesday (6), in one of the biggest incursions into Russian territory since the start of the war.
The Ukrainian military and top leadership have not commented on the events in the Kursk region. In his speech on Wednesday night (7), President Volodymyr Zelensky said that pressure on Russia was key to peace.
“The more pressure we put on Russia – the aggressor that brought war to Ukraine – the closer we will be to peace. A just peace through just force,” Zelensky said.
In a nationally televised address on Wednesday night (7), Podolyak said that Russia will not react to “any proposal” before receiving “aggressive and appropriate retaliatory strikes”.
In the more than two years since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has used its border regions for artillery and guided bomb strikes against Ukraine.
Podolyak said Ukraine could thwart this strategy by pushing Russian military infrastructure away from its border or by relying on the systematic use of long-range weapons — a strategy subject to restrictions from Ukraine’s Western allies.
“Through direct operations, operations of a forceful nature, due to the fact that Russia is absolutely not ready to defend its territories, you are pulling back and protecting this sanitary border or a sanitary zone,” Podolyak said.
The presidential aide declined to comment on the specific developments in the Kursk district, saying that only the military can speak about the operational and tactical details of events on the ground.
Source: CNN Brasil
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