Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Monday, April 8, 2025, publicly acknowledged for the first time that his troops are active in Russia’s Belgorod region.
“We continue to carry out active operations in the border areas on enemy territory.
According to him, that is absolutely just, as he believes that war must return to where it came from.
His comments also referred to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine still holds a small area after a major offensive last year.
Moscow has since retaken most of the territory.
Zelensky said “the main objective” was to protect Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv border regions.
He said the objective also included easing the pressure on other parts of the vast front line, particularly in the eastern Donetsk region.
Russia’s military had last month reported Ukrainian attempts to cross over into the Belgorod region – but said such attacks had been rebuffed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory.
The Kremlin has rejected US and European allegations that it is dragging its feet on US President Donald Trump’s push for a ceasefire in the war.
Trump told reporters late on Monday that he was “not happy about what’s going on”, accusing Russia of “bombing like crazy right now”.
Zelensky’s home city of Kryvyi Rih held funerals earlier for 20 people, including nine children, who were killed in a Russian missile attack last Friday.
In his video address late on Monday, Zelensky said he had been briefed by his top commander Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi about the situation on the front.
He said he had also been briefed about their presence in the Kursk and Belgorod regions.
Zelensky thanked several army units defending Ukraine, including the 225th Assault Regiment deployed in the Belgorod region.
According to the BBC, Zelensky was quoted to have said:
“Well done, guys! I’m proud of each and every one who is fighting for Ukraine!”
He provided no further details. It is his first explicit acknowledgement of Ukrainian troops in Belgorod.
On March 18, Zelensky had indirectly confirmed that Ukrainian troops were there.
When asked by reporters to comment on a Russian defence ministry statement that Ukrainian troops had unsuccessfully tried to enter the western part of the Belgorod region, he said:
“There is an operation there.”
Russia had said that all Ukrainian attempts to advance towards the villages of Demidovka and Prilesye had been rebuffed.
He added that a cross-border raid had been prevented.
However, several Russian military bloggers at the time reported fighting in Demidovka itself.
Demidovka lies about two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) had also said in an update on 21 March that “Ukrainian forces recently advanced in Belgorod”.
The ISW said, adding that such claims were unconfirmed,
“Russian milbloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces advanced and are consolidating positions on the outskirts of Demidovka and Prilesye,”
In the past two days, Russian military bloggers had reported that Ukrainian forces were withdrawing from the Demidovka area.
Ukraine’s operation in Belgorod is believed to be on a much smaller scale compared to its actions in Kursk.
At Kursk, Kyiv at one point seized a number of villages including the regional town of Sudzha.
Zelensky and his top commanders have repeatedly said that such incursions have forced Moscow to redeploy troops from the Donetsk region.
According to media reports, Donetsk region is where Russian troops have been making slow, yet steady advances in recent months.
Reports say Ukraine could also be hoping to exchange the Russian areas it holds for parts of Ukrainian regions occupied by Moscow.
This they say will be in any future peace negotiations that are being pushed for by the US.
A number of war analysts, both in Ukraine and the West, have questioned the military expedience of Kyiv’s operations on Russian soil.
They point to reported high combat casualties and weapons supply difficulties.