Zelensky praises Kursk success amid Russian rejection of peace talks

• Moscow claimed another village in the war-battered Donetsk region on Monday.
• Ukraine ordered the evacuation of families from the key city of Pokrovsk.
• Zelensky’s troops have set up administrative offices and released footage of Ukrainian soldiers.

Ukrainian forces, under President Volodymyr Zelensky’s command, launched a surprise offensive into Russian territory on August 6, advancing several kilometers into Russia’s Kursk region. Zelensky praised their success as they continue to hold onto the captured territory, prompting the Kremlin to rule out any possibility of peace talks with Kyiv.

The biggest attack on Russian soil since World War II has rattled Moscow and surprised Ukraine’s Western allies. On Monday, Zelensky stated that the incursion was meeting Kyiv’s objectives, which include stretching Russian forces, creating a “buffer zone,” and moving the war closer to an end on “fair” terms.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that Kyiv’s attack had pushed the prospect of peace talks further away.

“At the current stage, given this escapade, we will not talk,” he said Monday.

He called entering a negotiating process “completely inappropriate” and said future talks “depend on the situation on the battlefield, including in the Kursk region.”

Moscow, determined to prevent the offensive from impacting its own advance in eastern Ukraine, claimed another village in the war-battered Donetsk region on Monday.

Bracing for a further assault, Ukraine ordered the evacuation of families from the key city of Pokrovsk as Moscow’s forces inched closer to the logistics hub.

In Kursk, Zelensky’s troops have set up administrative offices and released previously unthinkable footage of Ukrainian soldiers patrolling Russian streets.

“We are achieving our goals. This morning we have another replenishment of the (prisoner of war) exchange fund for our country,” Zelensky said, referring to more Russian troops being taken captive.

On Sunday, Zelensky said the push into Russian territory aimed to create a “buffer zone.” The prospect of peace talks appeared distant even before Ukraine launched its incursion. Russian President Vladimir Putin had demanded that Ukraine cede swathes of territory if it wanted a ceasefire.

Zelensky, who has ruled out direct talks with the Kremlin, demands Russia’s full withdrawal from Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, and reparations. To give momentum to a possible settlement, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ukraine on Friday, officials in New Delhi and Kyiv said.

Modi, who recently visited Moscow and maintains a close relationship with Putin, has openly expressed his desire to end the conflict. Meanwhile, Ukraine continued its Kursk offensive on Monday. Over the weekend, a third bridge over the Seym River in Russia was hit, according to a video released by prominent pro-Kremlin TV commentator Vladimir Solovyov.

Russian military bloggers reported that the attacks have left Russia with limited supply options. Moscow’s defense ministry stated that Russia had repelled Ukrainian attacks on three additional villages. The incursion has visibly unsettled Russians and some in Kyiv hope that this anxiety might turn the country against the Kremlin’s ongoing war.

“Accustomed to seeing the war as a television show, Russians are now seeing it up close and personal,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on X.

“If you don’t want to see the war, you have to end the war by forcing your ‘leadership’ to make peace on fair terms.”

In eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Moscow reported that it captured the town of Artemovo, known as Zalizne in Ukrainian. Zalizne, which had a population of around 5,000 at the start of 2022, is one of the largest locations Russian troops have taken in recent weeks. Ukrainian artillery struck a bus stop in the city of Donetsk, currently under Russian control, killing a pregnant woman and wounding 10 people, including two children, according to Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed governor.

Ukraine reported that Russian attacks killed four people in frontline towns: a 71-year-old woman was killed in her garden in Toretsk, and three civilians in their 60s and 70s were killed in the village of Zarichne. As the front lines moved west toward the city of Pokrovsk, Ukrainian officials announced a compulsory evacuation of families with children. Over 53,000 people, including nearly 4,000 children, still live in the area. Filashkin described the evacuation decision as “necessary and inevitable.” Russia has long sought to capture Pokrovsk, located at the intersection of a crucial road that supplies Ukrainian troops.

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