Zelensky claims Russian incursion is part of victory plan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently stated that his troops' incursion into Russia's Kursk region is a key part of a broader victory plan that he intends to present to US President Joe Biden in September. 

Speaking at a forum on Tuesday, Zelensky said the success of the plan would depend on President Biden and on whether the US would give Ukraine "what is in this plan or not, [and] whether we will be free to use this plan, or not".

He acknowledged that the plan might seem overly ambitious to some but emphasised its significance for Ukraine. He also mentioned that he intends to share the plan with both US presidential candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

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Notably, a number of Ukrainian troops made an incursion into Russia's Kursk region in early August, and Russia has so far seemingly been unable to repel them.

Ukraine's top military commander, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Kyiv now controls 1,294 sq km (500 sq miles) of Russian territory and 100 settlements.

Gen Syrskyi further said Ukraine had no aim of holding on to the territory and that one motivation for the incursion was to distract Russian forces away from their own offensive in eastern Ukraine. Russia is trying to capture the town of Pokrovsk, which is an important hub and home to a key railway station.

President Zelensky also revealed that recently, his military carried out the first successful test of a domestically-produced ballistic missile, amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. 

While Ukraine has already used some ballistic missiles against Russia that were provided by the US, it has been working to develop the domestic production of military hardware to diminish its dependency on Western aid.

However, for now, Ukraine mostly relies on military supplies from abroad to fight Russia and repel its attacks. 

For a long time now, Ukraine has been trying to develop its own arms industry and boosting military production on its own territory, to become less dependent on Western military aid amid the ongoing war with Russia.

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For the past two nights, Russia has pummelled Ukraine with a barrage of drone and missile attacks which have left several people dead and caused blackouts in various areas of the country.

These attacks demonstrate that Moscow has no intention of ending the war, President Zelensky noted, stating, "When they seek peace talks, they don't launch 230 air strikes." 

However, since the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk, Russia has indicated that it is unwilling to engage in any peace negotiations with Ukraine.

(With inputs from agencies)