President Zelensky validates offensive inside Russia

Kathmandu: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has validated his military is conducting an offensive inside Russia’s western Kursk region.

According to the BBC, in Ukraine, the capital Kyiv, and the Sumy region came under Russian air attack in the early hours of Sunday. Ukraine’s emergency services, on Sunday, said a 35-year-old man and his four-year-old child were killed in Kyiv.

President Zelensky, in his nightly televised address on Saturday, said Ukraine’s military is pushing the war “onto the aggressor’s territory.” This is the first time that the president has announced about conducting an attack.

At least 13 people were injured – two seriously – in Kursk in the early hours of Sunday, the region’s acting governor Alexei Smirnov said.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on Telegram early on Sunday morning that air defense units were “operating” and warned civilians to stay in shelters.

The President made the announcement five days after Ukraine began its surprise operation against Russia. The attack prompted mass evacuations across both sides of the border.

In his Saturday address, President Zelensky thanked Ukraine’s “warriors”, and said he had discussed the operation in Russia with the country’s senior military commander Oleksandr Syrsky.

There are reports of Ukkranian troops threatening to seize one regional town as they fight more than 10km (six miles) inside Russia – the deepest advance since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.