Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed for the first time on Monday, the 7th of April, that Ukrainian troops are active in the Belgorod region of Russia, trying to protect Ukrainian border towns, reports the British broadcaster BBC.
In his evening video address on Monday, Zelenskyy said that his top commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, had briefed him on the situation on the front, “including our presence in the Kursk and Belgorod regions”.
“We continue to conduct active operations in border areas on enemy territory, and it is absolutely right – the war must go back to where it came from,” he said on Monday.
His comments also applied to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine still holds a small territory after a major offensive last year. Moscow has since regained most of the territory.
Zelenskyy said their “main objective” was to protect Ukraine’s border regions of Sumy and Kharkiv and to “relieve pressure” on other parts of the broad front line, in particular the eastern Donetsk region.
Zelenskyy thanked several army units protecting Ukraine, including the 225th storm regiment deployed in Belgorod Oblast.
“Well done, guys! I am proud of everyone who fights for Ukraine!” said the President.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow currently controls around 20% of Ukrainian territory.
He did not give further details. This is his first explicit confirmation that Ukrainian troops are in Belgorod. On the 18th of March Zelenskyy indirectly confirmed that Ukrainian troops are there.
Russia had announced that all attempts by Ukraine to enter the Belgorod region in the direction of the villages of Demidovka and Prilesye had been repelled and that the cross-border attack had been prevented.
However, several Russian military bloggers at the time reported fighting in Demidovka itself, which is about two kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) had also stated in an update on the 21st of March that “Ukrainian forces have recently advanced in Belgorod”.
“Russian milbloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces had advanced and were consolidating positions on the outskirts of Demidovka and Prilyosje”, ISW said, adding that such claims had not been confirmed.
In the previous two days, Russian military bloggers had reported that Ukrainian forces were retreating from the Demidovka area.
The Ukrainian operation in Belgorod is smaller than in Kursk, where it briefly occupied several villages. Zelenskyy claims that such operations are forcing Russia to redeploy troops away from the Donetsk region, where Russian troops have been making steady, if slow, advances in recent months.
Ukraine may also hope to be able to barter for Russian-occupied territories in possible peace talks.
Several war analysts, both in Ukraine and in the West, have questioned the military utility of the Kyiv operations on Russian territory, pointing to reports of heavy combat casualties and difficulties in supplying weapons.
On Sunday, Russia announced that its troops had taken the village of Basivka in Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region – opposite Kursk – and were continuing fighting with Ukrainian forces in various localities.
On Monday, a Ukrainian military spokesman again denied that Basivka is in Russian hands.