The Ukrainian offensive in Kursk forced Moscow to “send 40,000 soldiers to this area,” according to Volodymyr Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily video message on Thursday, September 19, that kyiv’s offensive in the Russian border region of Kursk had forced Russia to “send about 40,000 Russian soldiers to this area”The situation on the front in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, where the Russian army has been advancing in recent months, is “very worrying”but kyiv managed to reduce Moscow’s capabilities there, Volodymyr Zelensky assured.

Ukraine launched a major attack on August 6 in the Russian region of Kursk, seizing several hundred square kilometers according to kyiv. It hoped to force Moscow to redeploy its troops, which are in the Donetsk region, and thus slow their advances, but Russian soldiers continue to advance in this area for the time being.

Russia has also assured that it has recaptured several villages in the Kursk region from Ukrainian troops since last week. However, the spokesman for the Ukrainian regional command, Oleksiy Dmytrachkivsky, affirmed on Wednesday that the Russian counter-offensive in the Kursk region had been stopped.