Zelensky admits to Ukraine's invasion of Kursk, asks France to strike deep into Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters, where he listened to a report on the "operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine" in the Kursk region of Russia. The meeting thus marked the first time when Zelensky publicly spoke about the actions of the Ukrainian army in the Russian region.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine participated in the meeting via video link. He called the operation in the Kursk region an "offensive" and said that it was ongoing.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine invaded the Sudzha district of the Kursk region on August 6. The fighting then spread to the neighboring Korenevsky district. Acting Governor of the region Alexei Smirnov said on August 12 that the Armed Forces of Ukraine captured 28 settlements. Twelve civilians were killed, 121 were wounded, including ten children, the acting governor specified.

Ukraine asks France permission to strike deep into Russia

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov held a "productive conversation" with his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu, Umerov wrote on X platform.

"We discussed the recent state of affairs on the front line. I insisted on the need to lift the ban on hitting military targets on enemy territory," Umerov said.

In his message on X, Lecornu said that he and Umerov discussed "the development of the situation on the front, as well as France's further support" for Kyiv.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in late May that Kyiv should be allowed to "neutralize" the military facilities that Russia used to launch missiles at Ukrainian territory. However, Macon prohibited "strikes on other targets in Russia and, obviously, on civilian objects."

In spring, Ukraine received permission from the United States to use US-made weapons to strike Russia, but only in the Kharkiv area. The use of long-range ATACMS missiles or other long-range weapons for this purpose was prohibited.

The Washington Post, citing an unnamed adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote that after the invasion of the Ukrainian forces into the Kursk region, Kyiv asked Washington for permission to use ATACMS to strike airfields on Russian territory to prevent Russia's retaliatory attacks. The day before the breakthrough of the Russian border, representatives of the "Kharkiv" group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that Kyiv had received permission to use the American missiles to strike Russia but not farther than Belgorod.

In July, during a visit to the UK, Zelensky asked UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to allow strikes on targets in Russia with the use of Western long-range weapons. Kyiv received long-range Storm Shadow missiles from London, whereas Paris supplied Scalp missiles (analogous to Storm Shadow).

Ukrainian fighters: We can exchange captured Russian land for ours

Servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the purpose of the attack on the Kursk region is to win more advantageous negotiating positions and force Moscow to redirect forces from other parts of the front, The Financial Times reports.

The publication quoted a Ukrainian serviceman named only as Denis, who believes that the goal of the operation was to capture Russian territory.

"We can fight here and seize their territory, and then negotiations can begin, and we will have some of their land to exchange it for ours," the man said.

Other servicemen with whom the publication managed to talk said that the attack on the Kursk region was supposed to provoke the command of the Russian Armed Forces to withdraw units from Kharkiv and Donetsk directions of hostilities.