White House in touch with Ukrainian officials on breakthrough in Russia's Kursk region
Photo: John Kirby, White House representative (Getty Images)
The United States is in contact with the Ukrainian side amid the border breakthrough in the Kursk region of Russia. However, Washington is not ready to comment yet, according to White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby.
"I think I’m still going to be in the space today of letting Ukraine speak to their military operations one way or another. We’re in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts, and we are working to gain a better understanding of what they’re doing, what their goals are, what their strategy is," the White House representative tells reporters.
At the same time, Kirby refuses to describe the situation in the Kursk region, explaining that it was worth waiting until Washington had a better understanding of the events in the Russian region.
The White House representative also assures that the Ukrainian army did not violate the restrictions imposed by the United States on strikes deep into Russian territory with American weapons.
"They are — I would add that they’re using it in an area where we had said before that they could use U.S. weapons for cross-border strikes. The end goal here is to help Ukraine defend itself, and we’re just going to see what Ukraine says about it," he adds.
Kursk breakthrough
Four days ago, a Russian border breach occurred on the border of the Kursk and Sumy regions, near the town of Sudzha. Despite the active reaction of the Russian side to these events, the Ukrainian leadership has not yet officially commented on the situation in the Kursk region.
According to unofficial reports, the Russian army has lost control of about a hundred square kilometers of territory in the Kursk region. Yesterday, a video was even posted online with soldiers of the Ukrainian 61st Brigade in the town of Sudzha. For more information on maps of the grey zones in the Kursk region, please follow this link.
A counter-terrorist operation was declared in the Kursk, Bryansk, and Belgorod regions due to the breakthrough. The Russians have also begun to move units from other parts of the frontline to Kursk. Read how this could affect the situation on the battlefield in RBC-Ukraine's article.
