Ukraine said Tuesday (13/8) it would not defend Russian territory seized in a surprise cross-border attack, and offered to halt the offensive if Moscow agreed to a “fair peace.”
Earlier, Ukrainian troops entered Russia's Kursk region on Tuesday (Aug. 6), taking over two dozen settlements in the largest foreign military offensive on Russian soil since World War II. Russia said Tuesday it had repelled a new attack on Kursk.
More than 120,000 people have fled the area, and Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Monday that his forces had taken control of about 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory.
At least 800 square kilometers were under Ukrainian control on Monday, according to an AFP news agency analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
Foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy on Tuesday said Kyiv was not interested in “taking over” Russian territory and defended Ukraine's actions as “absolutely legitimate.”
“The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace… the sooner the attacks carried out by Ukrainian defense forces on Russia will stop,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it was imposing restrictions on movement in a 20-kilometer zone in the Sumy region along the border with the Kursk region due to an “increased intensity of hostilities” and “sabotage” activities.
Russia's Defense Ministry said it had “thwarted” a new Ukrainian attack on Kursk by “enemy groups with armored vehicles to break into Russian territory.”
Alexander Bortnikov, Russia's FSB security chief, also said in a statement that Ukraine had launched the attack “with the collective support of Western countries.” (th/jm)
