Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that Ukrainian forces are fighting in Russia’s Kursk region and said the operation was part of Kiev’s bid to restore justice after the Russian invasion in 2022.

Kiev seeks to “shift the war” inside Russia, the Ukrainian president said this evening Volodymyr Zelensky, amid an incursion by Ukrainian troops into Russia’s Kursk region that began on Tuesday and has so far not been directly commented on by Kiev.

“Today, on several occasions, General Sirski (retired chief of general staff of the armed forces) gave a report from the front, about our actions and the shift of the war to the territory of the aggressor (…). “Ukraine is proving that it can deliver justice and apply the necessary pressure: pressure on the aggressor,” Zelensky said in his daily evening televised message.

Zelensky had previously referred to the operation, praising the military’s ability to “surprise” and thanking them for capturing Russian soldiers for use in future negotiations.

Paying tribute to Ukrainian forces along the 1,000-kilometer front line, Zelensky made special mention of actions in the northern Sumy region, across the border from Russia’s Kursk region.

Russia has stepped up its attacks with guided bombs and other airstrikes in Sumi, prompting mass evacuations.

Russian forces are battling thousands of Ukrainian forces up to 20 km deep inside the Kursk region, the fifth day since the biggest incursion of Ukrainian troops into Russian territory since the war broke out in late February 2022.

More than 76,000 people have been evacuated from areas bordering Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region, local emergency authorities said, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.