President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed the real reason Ukraine breached Russian borders was to create a “buffer zone”.
Ukrainian forces managed to turn the tables on Moscow in recent weeks, and are now occupying 445 square miles (1,150 sq kilometres) of Russian land in the Kursk region.
During the early days of the offensive, Ukraine refused to even confirm it was behind the first invasion of Russia since World War 2.
Even its major ally, the US, said it had not even been aware of the plan in advance.
After five days, Kyiv admitted it had crossed into Russia – but said it did not intend to annexe the land it has seized, as Moscow has with 18% of Ukraine’s land over the last two years.
Russian president Vladimir Putin even claimed Kyiv was just looking to bolster its hand in peace negotiations.
However, over the weekend, Zelenskyy finally revealed the purpose of the attack – creating a “buffer zone”.
“It is now our primary task in defensive operations overall: to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions,” he said in a video posted on X on Sunday.
“This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory – our operation in the Kursk region.”
And while he said “our troops are doing an outstanding job”, he noted there were problems with the supplies coming from Ukrainian allies – mainly the UK, the US and France.
He added: “There are no holidays in war. We need decisions – we need timely logistics for the promised aid packages. I’m specifically addressing the United States, the United Kingdom and France.”
In another post on Saturday, Zelenskyy said the UK has demonstrated “true leadership” throughout the war “in arms, politics, and support for Ukrainian society”.
But, the president continued: “Unfortunately, the situation has slowed down recently.
“We will discuss how to fix this because long-range capabilities are vital for us.
“The whole world sees how effective Ukrainians are—how our entire nation defends its independence.”