Zelenskyy confirms presence of the Armed Forces in Belgorod region for the first time

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: REUTERS/Alina Smutko

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has heard a report from Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi and officially confirmed the presence of Ukrainian troops in the Belgorod region.

He said this in his evening address.

According to him, the main goal of the Ukrainian military in the Kursk and Belgorod directions remains to protect the communities in Sumy and Kharkiv regions from Russian troops as much as possible.

Advertising

«Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on the frontline, our presence in the Kursk region and our presence in the Belgorod region. We continue to conduct active operations in the border areas on the enemy's territory, and this is absolutely fair — the war must return to where it came from. The main goal is to protect our land as much as possible, to protect our communities in Sumy and Kharkiv regions from the Russian occupiers. The Commander-in-Chief reported on the activity of our units along the border, as well as in the so-called grey zone and directly on the enemy's territory», Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The President added that thanks to the Kursk operation, it was possible to reduce pressure in other areas of the front, particularly in Donetsk region.

«It is absolutely important to continue destroying Russian equipment and all logistics used by the occupier along the frontline,» Volodymyr Zelenskyy added.

As a reminder, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi proposed a plan for an offensive against the Belgorod region (RF) back in 2022, which was allegedly implemented in 2024 in the Kursk region (RF).

As a reminder, on 14 March, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Kursk operation had fulfilled its task of pulling Russian troops back from the Pokrovsk, Kharkiv and Sumy directions.

As early as 15 March, 19 clashes took place in the Kursk region, with Russian troops carrying out 34 air strikes, dropping 63 guided bombs, and 243 artillery attacks, including five from multiple launch rocket systems.

Nevertheless, on 19 March, Donald Trump said in an interview with FoxNews that 2,500 Ukrainian troops were surrounded in the Kursk region. Earlier, on 13 March, he even appealed to Vladimir Putin to «pardon them».

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine denied Donald Trump's words, stressing that Ukrainian units had regrouped, moving to more favourable defensive positions and continued to perform combat missions.

In addition, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War found no geolocation evidence of the encirclement of Ukrainian forces in the area. They also noted that Vladimir Putin used Donald Trump's statement to divert attention from the Kremlin's refusal to accept the US-Ukraine ceasefire proposal.