Zelensky: Russia “must feel” the war, Moscow claims that it rejected the invasion of its territory

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on 8 August that Russia had brought war to his country and that it “must feel what it has done”, after Russia claimed to have repelled Ukraine’s sudden cross-border incursion into the Kursk region.

Zelenski did not directly mention the incursion, which Russia says is now in its third day and involves up to 1 000 Ukrainian troops backed by tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery.

He said he had received reports from Lieutenant General Oleksandr Sirskyi, Ukraine’s top military commander, and described the military action as “effective” and “exactly what our country needs at the moment”, Radio Free Europe (RFE) reports in English.

Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, commented indirectly on the operation earlier on Platform X, saying that the root cause of any escalation, shelling, military actions, forced evacuations “including inside Russian territories such as the Kursk and Belgorod regions, is exclusively Russia’s unequivocal aggression”.

“This includes attempts to occupy foreign territories and disregard for the norms of international law that clearly uphold sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Podolyak said on 8 August.

Zelenski also commented indirectly on the incursion, saying on Telegram: “Russia has brought war to our country and must feel what it has done.”

Russia has previously claimed that Kiev forces fired missiles at civilian and residential targets in the Kursk region, while Russian pro-war bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces seized several villages as they advanced into Russian territory.

Acting Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov declared a state of emergency on 7 August after Russian President Vladimir Putin described the military operation as “another large-scale provocation”.

In a statement on 8 August, the Russian defence ministry said that the Russian battlegroup Sever and border guard units had foiled attempts by Ukrainian forces to break through the Suye and Korenevo areas.

The Ministry had previously claimed to have shot down six drones and five missiles over the Kursk region and 14 drones in the Belgorod region.

The Governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that one person had been killed and one wounded in the Ukrainian shelling of Shebekin.

Meanwhile, in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, two civilians were killed in Russian shelling of Kostiantinovka on 8 August, regional governor Vadim Filashkin reported on Telegram.

Two people, including a child, were killed and two others injured in Russian air strikes in the Sumy region, Sumy Governor Volodymyr Artyukh said.

Russia also reported that Ukrainian forces had infiltrated its border near the main natural gas transport hub of Sumy. The Suya transmission and metering stations in the Kursk region are the only entry point for Russian natural gas into the Ukrainian gas system for onward transport to Europe.

On 8 August, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that Russia had not contacted Ukraine about the gas transit situation, but the transit route for Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine was still operational.

In February 2022, Russia launched a general invasion of Ukraine.

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