“Regarding the Kursk operation, Russia tried to push back our positions, but we are holding on,” Zelensky said in his evening speech.
At the start of the week, Moscow claimed to have recaptured two villages in this sector and pledged to continue its “actions” to push Ukrainian forces out of its territory.
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Mr. Zelensky also explained on Saturday that the situation of Ukrainian forces in eastern Donetsk region and southern Zaporizhia was “very difficult.”
According to kyiv, Russian attacks killed two people on Saturday – a 19-year-old in a civilian car and an 84-year-old pensioner – east of Donetsk.
The Ukrainian army, in difficulty facing the Russian army in eastern Ukraine, launched a large-scale attack in the Kursk region on August 6, the largest offensive on Russian territory since the end of the Second World War.
In particular, it hoped to create a buffer zone near the border to limit Russian bombings on Ukrainian border communities, while forcing Russia to redeploy its units which are on the offensive near Donetsk and thus slow down their advances.
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But Russian soldiers still continue to advance in eastern Ukraine, particularly towards Pokrovsk, a key logistical node for Ukrainian forces.
In total, according to the Russian military, 14 villages, including Novaya Sorotchina and Pokrovsky, were recaptured from the Ukrainians, out of the hundred over which kyiv said it had control.
