'War is a War' - Ukraine Breaks Silence on Fighting in Russia’s Kursk Region

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian President’s office, made Ukraine's first official comment on the situation in Russia’s Kursk region on Thursday, Aug. 8. His remarks come as Ukrainian forces continue their offensive in the area, marking a significant escalation in the war.

Podolyak did not directly mention the military operations but emphasized that the ongoing turmoil in Russia's Kursk and Belgorod regions is a consequence of Russia's own aggression.

“The reason for any escalation, shelling, fighting, and destruction on Russian territory, including the Kursk and Belgorod regions, is singular: Russia's unconditional aggression,” he said.

“Russia has consistently believed that it is not subject to restrictive legal norms and therefore has the ability to attack the territories of neighbouring countries with impunity and hypocritically demand the inviolability of its territories. But war is a war that has its own rules and in which the aggressor always reaps the appropriate fruits,” he added.

This was the first time Ukrainian authorities have spoken about the fighting in the Kursk region on the third day that Ukrainian troops have been active.

Olexii Honcharenko, a Ukrainian politician and People's Deputy, also commented on the situation, saying the offensive aims to force Russia to divert troops to the area, potentially reducing the level of attacks in eastern Ukraine.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his Aug. 7 address, did not mention the Kursk operations but stressed the need to increase pressure on Russia to bring the war closer to an end.

Russia says about 300 Ukrainian infantry troops, accompanied by a dozen tanks and over 20 armored vehicles, attacked Russian military units in Russia’s Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Ukraine.

The Kremlin’s MoD said the incursions were made by Ukraine’s 22nd Mechanized Brigade, and that Russia had sent reserves from Kursk on Tuesday to help fend off the assault by “hundreds of Ukrainian fighters supported by tanks.” The MoD glossed over what may be Ukraine’s largest ground incursion into the Russian Federation during the war so far.

On the third day of its incursion, on Aug. 8, Ukrainian forces had advanced up to 10 kilometers into Russia’s Kursk region as part of their ongoing offensive operations, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Pro-Ukrainian and even some pro-Russian milbloggers suggest the advance may have gone even further