Zelensky says Russia must feel the war during the Kursk attack

Three days after the Ukrainian border attack in the Kursk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow must “feel” the consequences of its attack on Ukraine.

“Russia has brought war to our country and it must feel what it has done”, Mr Zelensky said in his speech on Thursday evening, without referring directly to the Ukrainian cases.

“The people of Ukraine know how to achieve their goals. And we did not choose to achieve our goals in war,” he added.

Russia says at least 1,000 Ukrainian troops, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, entered its territory on Tuesday morning – in what appears to be one of the largest attacks on Russian soil since the war began.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier accused Ukraine of “great provocation”.

Ukrainian officials have been largely silent on the attack. The exact situation on the ground is difficult to determine, with few specific details released by either side.

“Everyone knows that the Ukrainian army is capable of surprise [and] they got results,” the Ukrainian president said earlier Thursday, without specifically pointing to the attack.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it is closely monitoring the Kursk nuclear power plant, according to Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its forces “continue to destroy” armed Ukrainian forces with airstrikes, rockets and artillery fire.

The Ministry said that Russian reserves have been rushed to the region.

The Institute for the Study of War, a respected think tank, said images from the area showed Ukrainian armored vehicles had reached 10km (6.2 miles) in the Kursk region in the first two days of the offensive.

Russia’s military leadership is under heavy scrutiny at home, as some popular and well-informed Telegram channels have said the situation on the ground is not as stable as the Kremlin has suggested.

The powerful pro-war channel Rybar Telegram strongly criticized Russian military officials on Wednesday, saying that “for two months full information has been sent to a useless headquarters”, adding that there is enough time “to make the right decision”.

Local leaders in regions close to Kursk, in Russia and Ukraine, told residents to travel safely.

On Wednesday, the head of Ukraine’s Sumy region, Volodymyr Artyukh, ordered the evacuation of areas bordering Kursk.

In Russia’s Belgorod region, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Thursday that residential areas in his province had been attacked by Ukrainian forces in the past 24 hours.

Ukraine’s main allies appeared surprised by the attack – with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying the US is reaching out to Ukraine to better understand what it hopes to achieve.

This is not the first time that fighters based in Ukraine have entered Russia. Some Russian anti-Kremlin groups launched attacks last year, which were repelled.

Troops also crossed into Belgorod and Kursk regions in March, where they clashed with Russian troops.

On Wednesday evening, the Member of Parliament of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharenko said that the Ukrainian military has established control over the Sudzha gas field, a major facility involved in the transportation of natural gas from Russia to the EU via Ukraine, which continues despite the war.

It is the only point of entry of Russian gas into the EU.

As of Thursday, it was reported that gas was still leaking from Sudzha.

Russia’s National Guard said it had beefed up security at the Kursk nuclear power station, 70 kilometers northeast of Sudzha.

Over the past few months, Russia has made increasing gains in eastern Ukraine, as many of Kyiv’s military forces face relentless attacks in the eastern Donbas region.

In a recent interview, the head of Ukraine’s intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, said that a major offensive by Russian forces “is expected to end in a month and a half to two months”.