Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine plans to indefinitely hold the Russian territory it seized during a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region last month.
This move, Zelenskyy stated, is a crucial part of his strategy to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and secure a favorable position for Ukraine in future peace talks.
In his first one-on-one interview since the operation, Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine does not intend to permanently annex the land but will retain control as part of its “victory plan” to end the war. “We don’t need their land. We don’t want to bring our Ukrainian way of life there,” he told NBC News on Tuesday. “For now, we need it.”
The August 6 incursion, which caught many by surprise, saw Ukrainian forces gain control of nearly 500 square miles of Russian territory, taking hundreds of Russian soldiers as prisoners of war. Zelenskyy described the operation as a “pre-emptive strike” to prevent Russia from establishing a buffer zone along Ukraine’s border.
Zelenskyy revealed that the Biden administration was not informed about the plans to cross into Russia beforehand, stressing that the secrecy was key to the operation’s success. “I shrunk to the maximum the circle of people who knew about this operation,” he said, noting that even Ukrainian intelligence services were kept in the dark.
Despite Ukraine’s successes in Kursk, the situation remains challenging in the east of Ukraine, where Russian forces continue to advance, particularly around the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk. However, Zelenskyy believes that holding Russian territory could give Ukraine the leverage it needs in upcoming peace negotiations, with a second summit expected in November.
As the conflict drags into its 31st month, with Moscow still controlling a significant portion of Ukrainian territory, the stakes remain high. Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine seeks to enter peace talks from a position of strength, insisting that Russia must be involved in any diplomatic efforts to end the war.
