Ukraine’s Zelenskyy defends Kursk incursion, calls ‘red lines’ obsolete

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that there can be no “red lines” in Ukraine’s confrontation with Russia, defending Ukraine’s recent incursion into Russia’s Kursk region as necessary because of Western restrictions on strikes deep into Russian territory.

“If our partners had lifted all restrictions on strikes against targets in Russia, we wouldn’t have needed to physically enter the Kursk region,” Zelenskyy stated during a meeting at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in Kyiv late Monday.

Zelenskyy argued that Ukraine’s operation in Kursk revealed the fallacy of the so-called “red lines” in dealing with Russia.

“We now have a crucial ideological shift – the naive, illusory concept of red lines concerning Russia, once prevalent in some assessments of the war, has crumbled,” he said.

He claimed Ukrainian forces currently control approximately 1,250 square kilometers (about 480 square miles) of territory and 92 settlements in Kursk.

Zelenskyy also urged Western allies to synchronize with Ukraine and expedite the delivery of promised weapons and military equipment.

The operation in Kursk began on the night of Aug. 5-6, with Ukrainian forces entering near Sudzha.

On Aug. 12, Zelenskyy confirmed the incursion but did not disclose its objectives.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the incursion as a “terrorist attack,” while the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that over 121,000 people had been evacuated from the combat zone.

Independent verification of claims from both sides remains challenging because of the ongoing conflict.