The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during an interview that the due to the shortage of long-range weapons and Western allies not allowing missile attacks in Russia led to Kyiv invading the Kursk region.
Secondly the incursion was also to prevent the creation of a buffer zone along the border by the Russian Federation.
“As for the long-range capability. It was this lack of range that made us think. Think every second: what alternative do we have? And this led to an operation in Kursk region. And, by the way, a successful operation,” he said in an interview with NBC News.
President Zelensky said Ukraine lacks long-range weapons, but intelligence reports revealed that Vladimir Putin planning to create a buffer zone in the border area of the Russian Federation.
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Zelensky said, “Even Putin and his entourage openly stated that they want to build a buffer zone along our border of a certain number of kilometres deep into our state. And we realized that they would not stop.”
He added that when Russian forces stopped their offensive in Kharkiv region, there was intelligence which suggest Moscow was preparing a Russian offensive in the north of Ukraine.
He said, “And it would be a very serious challenge for us. I know that they [the Russians] have not abandoned these plans [to create a buffer zone]. And then we realised that we needed to carry out the operation accordingly, so that we, not they, would do the buffer zone.”
Putin has said that the Kursk operation is a “failure” as it did not force the Kremlin divert their troops from eastern Ukraine to the region.
Putin insisted that Kyiv’s incursion in the Kursk region has in fact weakened Ukraine in major areas as highly trained and skilled troops were sent to the Russian region.
Putin said speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Thursday, “Ukraine’s goal was to make Russia transfer troops from one area to another and stop the offensive in Donbas, but they did not succeed.
“Ukraine is now suffering very heavy losses in manpower and equipment.”
