Zelensky confirms Ukrainian troops are fighting inside Russian territory

CNN —

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed Kyiv’s troops are fighting inside Russia, days into the surprise Ukrainian cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region that has become a major embarrassment for the Kremlin.

“Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed – pressure on the aggressor,” Zelensky said in his nightly address to the nation on Saturday, thanking “every unit” of Ukraine’s armed forces for making it possible “to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory.”

The statement marked the first time Zelensky officially acknowledged the incursion, which took by surprise both Russia and Ukraine’s allies. Ukrainian officials have for days remained tight-lipped about the operation, even as photographs, videos and firsthand reports of Ukrainian soldiers inside Russia started to emerge.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the border region of Belgorod with airstrikes and pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups have conducted limited cross-border attacks, but the Kursk operation marked the first time that regular Ukrainian and special operations units have entered Russian territory.

Moscow has been scrambling to contain the attack. Russian authorities imposed a sweeping counter-terror operation in Kursk and two other border regions and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from Kursk.

On Sunday, Zelensky said Russian forces started a fire at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine. Posting a video showing a large plume of smoke coming out of one of the towers on the plant’s territory, Zelensky said radiation indicators were normal but blamed Russia for using the nuclear plant “to