Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has officially confirmed the presence of Ukrainian military forces in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, marking the first such acknowledgment at the highest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion began more than three years ago.
In his evening address on 7 April, Zelenskyy stated that Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi had briefed him on the situation at the front, including “our presence in Kursk and our presence in the Belgorod oblasts.”
“We continue to conduct active operations in the border areas on enemy territory, and this is absolutely fair – the war must return to where it came from,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian president emphasized that the main objective of these cross-border operations is to protect Ukrainian communities in Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts, which have been systematically targeted by Russian forces, and to “ease the pressure” on other parts of the front line, particularly in the eastern Donetsk Oblast.
According to the DeepState OSINT project, which maintains an interactive military map, Ukrainian troops have occupied 13 square kilometers of Russian territory near the border village of Demidovka in Belgorod Oblast.
Zelenskyy acknowledged Ukraine’s continued presence in parts of Russia’s Kursk Oblast following last year’s large-scale incursion. Recently, Russia recaptured most of that territory.
Previously, when asked on 18 March about possible Ukrainian operations in Belgorod region reported by Russia’s Defense Ministry, Zelenskyy had responded that Ukraine has the right to take preemptive steps to avoid Russian strikes.
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