Ukraine has marked six months since it launched an incursion into the Russian Kursk region, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said "brought the war home to the Russians" and could serve as a bargaining chip in any future peace negotiations.
"Today marks the sixth anniversary of the Kursk operation. With our operational activities on Russian territory, we have brought the war home to Russia," Zelensky said during a video address on the evening of February 6.
Ukrainian forces launched the incursion on August 6, taking control of parts of the territory in the Kursk region, including the city of Sudzha.
Zelensky mentioned the Ukrainian armed forces brigades involved in the Kursk operation, but did not mention a counteroffensive that has been reported by unofficial Ukrainian military bloggers and the Russian Defense Ministry.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces and armored vehicles carried out eight waves of attacks near the villages of Ulanok and Cherkasyskaya Konopelka. The Russians have repelled counterattack attempts and the settlements are under Russian control, the ministry said.
Russia claimed that Ukrainian forces had suffered heavy losses, including more than 200 soldiers and dozens of vehicles. Reports from the battlefield could not be independently confirmed.
The Ukrainian army's general staff briefly referred to military activities in the Kursk region during its assessment of the fighting on February 6, saying that only five clashes had taken place since morning.
Ukraine has said it can use the progress it has made in Kursk as a bargaining chip in potential peace talks with Russia.
"At some point, when the war moves towards a diplomatic solution, we will see how important this operation was," Zelensky wrote on X on February 5.
Zelensky's office said on Thursday that Ukraine is ready to open a humanitarian corridor to allow hundreds of Russian civilians, living in border areas that Ukraine has taken under control, to return to Russian-controlled territory.
More than 1,500 civilians still live in areas of the Kursk region. Some of them are angry with Russian authorities over the loss of contact with family members believed to be stranded on the other side of the front line without any means of communication.
"We are ready to open a humanitarian corridor from the Kursk region to the depths of Russia in response to an official request from the Russian Federation. Apparently, the Russians do not want such a humanitarian corridor because we have not received any request from them," Zelensky's office said in a statement, which accused Moscow of "interference" in the fate of its citizens./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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