Contrary to all the warnings he received, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky decided last week to authorize a military raid across the border.
Since February 24, 2022, the day the Russians invaded Ukraine, citizens in Russia encountered Ukrainian soldiers for the first time.
"Ukraine proves that it can really bring justice and ensures exactly the kind of pressure needed – on the aggressor," Zelensky said at the beginning of the week.
The fighting is concentrated in the Kursk region near the Ukrainian border and the residents of the region have been evacuated, while according to the Russian authorities, 2,000 are in areas already under Ukrainian control.
In addition, dozens of villages were occupied and, according to Zelensky, at least 74 villages are under Ukrainian control.
Unlike in the past, when Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the citizens of Ukraine to surrender, he is speaking differently this time and claims that Ukraine is bombing citizens – this is despite the fact that Putin has never confirmed that his country violated human rights or the many testimonies and photographs that testify to this.
Some in Moscow thought that they would soon be able to repel Ukraine, but Kiev drew conclusions from the manner of Russian reactions to previous events, which help the forces in the field to survive longer and even advance further in from the border.
Ukraine claims that so far it has gained control of about 1,000 square kilometers and documentation of Russian prisoners of war have been distributed on social networks.
Even so, apparently Ukraine does not plan to hold on to the territories for a long time, but to use them as a bargaining chip in negotiations and in an attempt to thwart Russian attacks inside Ukraine. Spokesperson of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that this prevented the transfer of Russian military forces to the war in the Donetsk region.
"Russia brought this war to the territory of Ukraine, and it is entirely fair that this war is now returning to Russian territory," the spokesman said.