Ukraine’s Zelenskyy visits Sumy border area near Kursk incursion zone

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited the border areas in the Sumy region from which his forces staged a major offensive into Russia’s Kursk region this month.

The president said on Thursday that he had met Oleksandr Syrskii, commander-in-chief of the army, receiving reports on the “operational situation across all active combat zones”, in a video posted on social media platform X.

The Ukrainian army’s surprise incursion into Kursk on August 6 saw it take control of dozens of settlements, forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee and taking hundreds of prisoners captive.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had “replenished the exchange fund”, a reference to the capture of Russian soldiers who could be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Moscow.

Ukrainian officials have said the goals of the offensive included creating a “buffer zone” on Russian territory, seeking an end to the war on “fair” terms and stretching Russian forces.

In his statement on Thursday, the president said there had been a decrease in shelling and civilian casualties in Sumy since the Kursk operation.

However, Ukrainian troops are still struggling in the eastern Donbas region, where the Russian army has been making steady gains

Zelenskyy said he discussed the “toughest front-line areas” with his army chief, in particular the strategic Donetsk hubs of Toretsk and Pokrovsk, where Moscow’s forces have concentrated their offensive for months and where fierce fighting continues.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will deliver a “worthy response” to the Kursk incursion, which he has described as a major provocation.

Putin was meeting on Thursday with senior officials about the situation in the border areas.

Acting Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov said 133,190 people had left or been evacuated from the region.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kyiv on Friday to meet Zelenskyy, and said he will be discussing ending the war with Russia.

“India believes that war cannot be a solution to any conflict. We support dialogue and diplomacy,” Modi said during a joint media conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on Thursday.

Modi met Putin in July. India has avoided condemning Russia’s invasion and is the world’s largest buyer of Russian weapons.