Ukraine says it has no interest in taking over territory of Russia’s Kursk region

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine said on Tuesday that it has no interest in taking over territory in Russia’s border region of Kursk, where Kyiv launched an incursion last week causing mass evacuations in multiple border regions.

“I’d like to emphasize that, unlike Russia, Ukraine doesn’t need something that belongs to someone else. Ukraine has no interest in taking over the territory of Kursk region, but we do want to protect the lives of our people,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi told a press conference in Kyiv.

Claiming that Russia has launched over 2,000 strikes from Kursk toward Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region since early summer, Tykhyi said Kyiv does not have sufficient capabilities to launch long-range strikes to protect itself from such strikes.

“So there is a need to liberate these border areas from Russian troops attacking Ukraine or providing cover for terror against Ukrainians. We will continue to do so the way it is deemed necessary for ensuring security and protecting Ukraine," Tykhyi further said.

He also said that Ukraine’s incursions help Kyiv in other parts of the front line because it prevents Russia from deploying more troops to the Donetsk front, expressing that the purpose of the country’s cross-border attacks is to “preserve the lives of our people and protect Ukraine’s territory from Russian strikes."

"The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace, in particular based on the Peace Formula, which leads to this peace, the sooner the raids of Ukraine’s Defense Forces on Russian territory will stop. … These are absolutely legitimate actions on the part of Ukraine, in particular, within the framework of the implementation of its right to self-defense in accordance with the UN Charter,” he added.

Last Tuesday, Russia said that Ukrainian troops, including tanks and armored combat vehicles, attacked its military positions near two border settlements in the Kursk region.

Since then, Moscow has reported that it has been repelling incursions into the border region by Ukrainian forces, in addition to countering airstrikes launched at Kursk and surrounding regions.

On Aug. 7, Putin accused Kyiv of carrying out “large-scale provocation” and “indiscriminate shooting.” Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later commented on the allegations, saying: “Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done.”​​​​​​​