This was announced on June 6 at a meeting with journalists by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Event broadcast on Facebook OPU.
A media representative, asking a question, noted that the Kremlin was “burning up” after raids by Russian volunteer battalions in the Belgorod region. He asked Zelensky whether he would rule out that after Ukraine entered the 1991 borders, he would sign a decree on the introduction of Ukrainian troops into the Russian Federation for “demilitarization and, possibly, de-Putinization.”
“No,” the president replied, laughing. “Ukraine is not at war with the Russian Federation, it is not at war on the territory of the Russian Federation. Ukraine is at war exclusively on its independent territory and de-occupies only its own lands – and that’s the point.”
Zelensky added that Ukraine “did not start a war.”
“We don’t need anything superfluous, we are not going to take anything from anyone, but we are not ready to give up what is ours. That is why we are fighting. And if we were ready to give what is ours, we would not fight,” the president said.
The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly stated that they are pursuing the goal of de-occupying all Ukrainian territories seized by Russia since 2014, including Crimea .
In the spring of 2023, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia legion entered the territory of the Russian Federation several times. On May 22–23, they raided Belgorod Oblast. They called on the Russians to join the fight against the current regime. The legion said that they want to create a demilitarized zone in the Belgorod region, from where the Russian Federation will not be able to shell Ukraine.
As stated in the RDC, during the raid, volunteer battalions went 42 km deep into the territory of the Russian Federation, but so far do not have the resources to fully occupy and hold the territory. Also, the RDK and the legion reported that they had captured prisoners and captured equipment. The losses of volunteer battalions, according to their calculations, then amounted to two dead and about 10 wounded.
Ukraine has nothing to do with what is happening in the Belgorod region, but “is watching with interest,” said Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. What is happening in the Belgorod region is an internal affair of the Russian Federation, added Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. According to the GUR, only citizens of the Russian Federation took part in the operation.
On the night of June 1, a battle began near the Russian settlement of Shebekino near the border of Ukraine and Russia. Russian Telegram channels wrote that the Shebekino automobile checkpoint was attacked with the help of tanks, and during the shelling one of the shells hit the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
On June 3, volunteers called on residents of the Belgorod region to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine because of the “chaotic shelling” of the region by the RF Armed Forces. The Office of the President confirmed that Ukraine is ready to organize a humanitarian corridor.
On June 4, the RDK and the legion announced that they had taken Russian soldiers prisoner in the Belgorod region. They offered to hand them over to the governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, but he refused to go to the meeting and decided to transfer the prisoners to Ukraine in an exchange fund.
2023-06-06 22:28:23
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