It has been five months since Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the Russian border region of Kursk, notes Volodymyr Zelenskyj in a video clip posted on social media on Monday evening.
And we continue to maintain a buffer zone on Russian territory, where we actively damage Russian military capability, says the Ukrainian president.
He reports large but difficult-to-verify losses on the opposing side: 38,000 Russian soldiers put out of action, of which 15,000 have been killed.
According to Zelenskyj, Ukrainians are thus preventing Russia from launching a full-scale attack. Over the weekend, reports emerged from several sources that Ukraine had begun attacking with renewed force in Kursk.
The Ukrainian president primarily addresses the situation on Ukrainian soil and specifically mentions the defense of Pokrovsk in the east, where Russian forces have approached the city and are reportedly trying to encircle it.
Zelenskyj, however, does not mention the city of Kurachove, which is located slightly further south along the front and which Russia claimed to have taken full control of on Monday. Independent observers have previously stated that Kurachove is now under Russian control, but fighting appears to be ongoing on its outskirts.
