Zelenskyy visits Ukraine border area where forces launched Russia incursion – National

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the border area where his forces launched an offensive into Russia, announcing that Ukrainian military had seized control of another Russian village and captured more prisoners of war.

Zelenskyy mentioned that the new POWs from the Russian region of Kursk would contribute to an “exchange fund” for swapping with captured Ukrainians.

“Another settlement in the Kursk region is now under Ukrainian control, and we have replenished the exchange fund,” Zelenskyy shared on social media platform X after receiving a report from Ukraine’s top military commander, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Zelenskyy refrained from disclosing the name of the newly captured village and avoided crossing over into Russia to prevent any provocation as perceived by Moscow. He reiterated that Ukraine’s aim is not to occupy the area permanently but to establish a buffer zone against further attacks from that region into Ukraine.

Zelenskyy noted that the Kursk operation initiated on August 6 has led to a decrease in Russian shelling and civilian casualties in the Sumy region.

During a separate event in Kyiv, Zelenskyy emphasized that the incursion into Kursk and the Ukrainian defenses in the country’s east, where Russia has intensified its offensive, are part of a strategy to bring an end to the war while maintaining an independent Ukraine.

In a separate development, emergency authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region reported a Ukrainian strike on a cargo ferry carrying fuel tanks at the port of Kavkaz, resulting in a fire. The port is situated on the Kerch Strait connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

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Video footage shared on Russian social media displayed a massive fire caused by the strike.

The bold Ukrainian incursion has unsettled the Kremlin, exposing Russia’s vulnerability and undermining President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to portray minimal impact from the ongoing war.