Zelensky Asserts Year-Long Combat in Russian Border Regions
Zelensky claims Ukrainian troops have fought in Kursk and Belgorod for over a year, though Russia reports full control of the region as of April 2025.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that Ukrainian forces have been conducting active combat operations in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions for more than a year. His statement was published on his official Telegram channel on August 6, marking the anniversary of Ukraine’s cross-border attack into the Kursk region.
Zelensky asserted that Ukraine had proven to the world it could «respond with dignity to Russian strikes." He added that foreign intelligence services allegedly did not foresee such developments, and that Moscow itself had not anticipated the incursion.
He wrote that, at a time when many believed the situation had reached a deadlock, Ukrainians had demonstrated their determination to defend national independence and compel Russia to bring the war to an end.
These declarations, however, have drawn skepticism. Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly made similar claims that contradict battlefield realities. Earlier, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, had also insisted that Ukrainian troops were still maintaining positions in both the Kursk and Belgorod regions.
On August 6, 2024, Ukrainian troops carried out an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Following the attack, Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that clashes had taken place in border areas. Later, on April 26, 2025, Chief of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, informed President Vladimir Putin that Russian forces had fully regained control of the entire Kursk region.