The president of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenskisaid on Tuesday that the operation of the armed forces in the Russian Oblast of Kurskwhere Kiev controls a part of the territory, it is not an occupation but a defensive operation to prevent Kremlin troops from taking more territory from Ukraine.
“There is no occupation on our side today,” said Zelensky, who has repeatedly insisted since Ukraine began its invasion of Kursk on August 6 that kyiv has no intention of seizing foreign territories.
“We have to defend our territory and we use all means from the territory of the Russian Federation to prevent them from occupying ours”the Ukrainian president said at a press conference with dozens of media outlets in kyiv.
The Ukrainian head of state added that the objective of taking Kursk – where, as the head of the Ukrainian Army said shortly before, Oleksandr SirskiUkraine controls a hundred towns and almost 1,300 square kilometers – has the goal of “preventing (the Russians) from taking more” Ukrainian territory.
Zelensky also referred to the behaviour of Ukrainian troops – of which no massacres, looting or other abuses such as those carried out by part of the Russian Army in Ukraine have been reported – towards the Russian population of the Kursk territories under kyiv’s control.
“I think our people are just better”Zelensky said, adding: “Do you think I made a call to the commander-in-chief (of the Ukrainian army) to tell him to give the agent water or something like that?”
Zelensky stressed the importance of “not being like those who brought war to us.” “We behave like human beings and it is important to preserve that”he indicated.
The Ukrainian president also said that the fact that Putin is, in his opinion, prioritizing the seizure of more territories in eastern Ukraine over the defense of his own territory in Kursk, helps the international community, especially in the Global South, understand that Russia’s war against Ukraine is not defensive in nature as the Kremlin claims. EFE (I)
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