Zelenskyy: Kursk operation is one of the points of Ukraine's victory plan, it will be presented to the United States in September

On August 27, the forum "Ukraine 2024. Independence" forum, during which President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with journalists from domestic and Western media. In particular, the head of state commented on Ukraine's operation in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation.

According to him, the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kursk allowed Ukraine to accomplish a number of tasks, including preventing the occupation of our country's northern border, and the operation is part of Ukraine's "victory plan," which Kyiv will present to the United States in September. The press conference was broadcast on the YouTube channel of the President's Office.

Zelenskyy assured that there was no connection between the operation in Kursk and the talks in Qatar. According to Western media, Ukraine and Russia, with Qatar's mediation, were supposed to agree to stop striking energy facilities.

"The Kursk operation and the negotiations in Qatar are completely unrelated. The Kursk operation is not related to any of the points of the Peace Formula. Is the Kursk operation related to the Peace Summit, the second one? Yes, it is. Because the Kursk operation is one of the points of Ukraine's victory plan," the president said.

Zelenskyy added that the actions of the Armed Forces in the Kursk region of Russia "had and have completely different goals than a meeting with energy colleagues."

"Energy is very important. But it is important to end the war. And the Kursk operation is one of the stages of this process," the head of state emphasized.

The President also assured that the meeting in Qatar had not been disrupted, but was held online.

Zelenskyy explained the success of the Kursk operation, in particular, by the fact that "a very narrow circle of people" knew about the intentions to conduct it. He also spoke about some of the goals that Ukraine pursued by launching an offensive in Russia. In particular, it made it possible to protect the Ukrainian border in the north of the country.

"The Kursk operation brought several things. First of all, the occupation of the Kharkiv region has been stopped. We had information about the creation of a "buffer zone" in the Kharkiv region, and then in the north. We didn't know the specifics, but we realized that Sumy and Chernihiv regions could be in the plans (of the enemy – Ed.). We received information from our intelligence and partner intelligence agencies about the movement of Russian troops, how it could be, and so on. The sequence of these, as they called them in the Kremlin, "buffer zones" was unknown to us, a clear sequence, but we understood what it could be. The Kursk operation resolved the issue of non-occupation of Sumy region and non-occupation of Chernihiv region," the President emphasized.

Moreover, Zelenskyy emphasized that the enemy suffered huge losses in manpower and equipment in the Kursk region.

"A serious grouping, a large number of troops were defeated," he said, refusing to go into details because "it's probably too early."

The Head of State also answered a question from a German journalist about the justification of the offensive in Kursk region in the face of the difficult situation and the occupiers' advance in Donetsk region.

"As for the Donetsk region, you have to understand that this is their strategic goal. And today, the movement (of enemy troops - Ed.) after the start of the Kursk operation from Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia has actually taken place. What happens next depends on us, on how long we successfully continue the Kursk operation... The fact that they are not withdrawing troops from Donetsk region is understandable. Their best-trained troops are there, and this is a strategic direction, because they really want to occupy our Donetsk region. And this goal has not changed since the beginning of the war in 2014," Zelenskyy said.

However, Russia will not succeed in achieving its goal of full occupation of Donbas, the head of state noted, because "we are working on it."

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine would present its "victory plan" to the United States in September. It will be shared with both US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

"Kursk is part of our plan for Ukraine's victory... One of the areas that has already been done is Kursk. The second direction is Ukraine's strategic place in the world's security infrastructure. The third is a powerful package to force Russia to end the war through diplomatic means. The fourth is economic," the president said.

According to Zelenskyy, the plan is already fully prepared.

"I think it's only fair that I first present it to the US President. The success of this plan depends on him. Whether they will give us what is in this plan or not. Will we be free to use what is in this plan or not," he added.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA reported that during the forum, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky spoke about the successes in Kursk region and explained whether it affected the situation near Pokrovsk. According to him, Ukrainian soldiers continue to advance on Russian territory.

Meanwhile, the Russian military command is deploying reserves to Kursk region, hoping to hold back the advance of Ukrainian troops, but so far the units are being withdrawn not from Donetsk region, but from other, less priority areas of the Ukrainian front for Moscow.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!