Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, issued a statement regarding the escalation of tensions on the territory of Russia, including the Kursk and Belgorod districts that border Ukraine.
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"There is only one reason for any escalation, bombing, hostilities, forced evacuations, and the destruction of normal life forms, including in Russia itself, such as in the Kursk and Belgorod regions: Russia's unconditional aggression - its attempt to conquer foreign territories and disregard for international law. The author of the concept of 'Russia's self-destruction' is well known: Putin himself. Therefore, the conclusions are quite obvious.
Russia has always believed it is exempt from prohibitive legal norms and, consequently, can attack neighboring countries with impunity while hypocritically claiming its own territories are inviolable. However, war has its own rules, and the aggressor always reaps what it sows," said Podolyak.
Mykhailo Podolyak is the first representative of the Ukrainian government to respond to the developments in the Kursk region. However, he did not mention the Ukrainian Armed Forces' attack in his statement.
On August 6, at dawn, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an attack towards the border region of the Russian Federation, specifically the Kursk region. On August 7, they captured the Sudzha checkpoint on the border between the Sumy and Kursk districts, taking several dozen Russian border guards as prisoners. Additionally, reports indicate that the Sudzha gas measuring station, located a few hundred meters from the checkpoint and part of Russia's main gas pipeline to Europe through Ukraine, fell into Ukrainian hands.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), by August 7, Ukrainian armoured vehicles had advanced about 10 kilometres from the border. A state of emergency has been declared in Kursk Oblast.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the events in Kursk as 'another large-scale provocation by the Kyiv regime.' First Deputy Defense Minister Valery Gerasimov reported that up to a thousand Ukrainian armed forces units participated in the offensive, with at least 100 killed. Gerasimov added that their advance was halted within the territory.
The military and political leadership of Ukraine have not commented on the incident.
