By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-28 20:01:26 | Updated at 2025-03-31 13:50:28
2 days ago
Just as Ukrainian forces are losing their grip on the pocket of Russia’s Kursk region they captured last year, they have staged a little-publicised incursion into the adjacent Belgorod region, according to Russian military bloggers.
Several Russian military correspondents said on Friday that Ukrainian troops were inside Belgorod and fighting battles with Russian forces there.
Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has confirmed the reports, though Russia’s defence ministry said 10 days ago its forces had thwarted five Ukrainian attempts to push across the border in Belgorod.
Ukraine’s military has not commented on any thrust into Belgorod region, though that could be for operational security reasons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, addressing reporters in Kyiv, said Ukrainian forces had taken “certain steps” in Russia outside the Kursk region to ease pressure on Ukrainian troops in the area.
Zelensky said the action was intended to “reduce the accumulation” of Russian troops and had occurred “a little below the Kursk region”. He did not elaborate.
