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Zelensky: Ukrainian army is still fighting in Kursk
2025-04-28 08:24:44 / BOTA
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Ukraine's military was still fighting in Russia's Kursk a day after Moscow claimed the "complete liberation" of its western region.
Kiev had hoped it could use the land in the Kursk region as a bargaining chip in future peace talks with Russia, which has seized parts of eastern and southern Ukraine since the start of its offensive in February 2022.
"Our military continues to actively defend designated areas of the Kursk and Belgorod regions," Zelensky said on Telegram, adding that the situation remains difficult in many areas, including Kursk.
Russia said on Saturday it had captured Gornal, the last settlement under Ukrainian control in its Kursk border region, where Kiev launched a shock offensive in August 2024.
However, hours later, the Ukrainian military denied that its forces had been forcibly expelled, calling Russia's claim a "propaganda hoax."
"The situation on the front lines and the current activities of the Russian military prove that the current pressure on Russia to end this war is not enough," Zelensky said, calling for increased pressure on Russia to create more opportunities for "real diplomacy."
His comments come a day after Zelensky discussed a possible ceasefire with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral at the Vatican.
After their brief conversation in St. Peter's Basilica, Trump cast doubt on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to end the war, which has devastated areas of eastern Ukraine and killed tens of thousands of people.
The next night, Russia launched drone and missile strikes, killing four people in regions across eastern Ukraine and wounding more than a dozen.
The Russian Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, particularly praised the "heroism" of North Korean soldiers who fought in the Kursk campaign, acknowledging for the first time their participation in the conflict.
Several Russian military bloggers closely monitoring the conflict said fighting was still ongoing around the forests on the border between Russia and Ukraine.
A local Russian military commander in Kursk also said the military was still conducting operations in the region, according to a state television broadcast aired on Sunday.
– 'Buffer zone' –
In August 2024, the Ukrainian army rolled into Kursk – once the site of a major World War II tank battle – in an unprecedented counteroffensive on Russian soil, which included capturing a pumping station through which Russian gas flowed to Europe.
But Moscow has since forced Kiev's soldiers onto the defensive, gradually retaking most of the region.
After Ukraine was temporarily deprived of key American intelligence in March 2025, Russia redoubled its efforts, including a surprise covert operation using an underground gas pipeline, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Russia has said it will continue to advance on the four Ukrainian regions it claimed to have annexed in 2022 after retaking Kursk.
And Moscow was planning to create a "buffer zone" in Ukraine's Sumy region, which borders Russia, according to Gerasimov.
Russia holds about 20 percent of Ukraine's territory, including the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
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