"It's going according to our plan": Zelenskyy speaks about the Armed Forces' operation in Kursk region and names its goals. Video

On Independence Day, August 24, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the operation in the Kursk region of Russia was going according to plan. He said he could name only a few of its goals – replenishing the exchange fund and preventing the occupation of part of Sumy region. At the same time, the president denied that Kyiv was "playing cards for dialogue" in this way.

Zelenskyy made the statement in Kyiv at a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonite, an OBOZ.UA correspondent reports. According to the head of state, the offensive in the Kursk region has several goals, but not all of them can be discussed publicly.

"The operation is complex, it is important that it goes according to our plan. There are several results of this operation, I can't talk about all of them. First of all, the exchange fund is something we can talk about openly, it is being replenished. This is positive," he said.

The second positive result, according to Zelenskyy, is"the cessation of the operation in the north of Russia, a preventive strike."

"And our operation has accomplished this task. We have prevented the encirclement of parts of our Sumy region and the desire to occupy the capital of the region, the city of Sumy," he said.

At the same time, Zelensky denied that the offensive in Kursk region was allegedly intended to be a "bargaining chip" for negotiations:

"And someone said that we are playing this card for a dialogue. What dialog? That someone was Putin. We are not playing any cards. We are very open with our partners, we told them how we are diplomatically moving towards a just peace, towards the end of the wars. And everyone was invited to the platform of the peace formula or peace summit, supporting or just talking about it."