Zelenskyy envisions buffer zone as Ukraine pushes into Kursk region

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday the daring military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border.

It was the first time Zelenskyy clearly stated the aim of the operation that began Aug. 6. Previously, he had said the operation aimed to protect communities in the bordering Sumy region from constant shelling.

Zelenskyy said “it is now our primary task in defensive operations overall: to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions. This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory -– our operation in the Kursk region,” he said in his nightly address.

This weekend, Ukraine destroyed a key bridge in the region and struck a second one nearby, disrupting supply lines as it pressed the incursion, officials said.

Pro-Kremlin military bloggers acknowledged the destruction of the first bridge on the Seim River near the town of Glushkovo will impede deliveries of supplies to Russian forces repelling Ukraine’s incursion, although Moscow could still use pontoons and smaller bridges. Ukraine’s air force chief, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, on Friday released a video of an airstrike that cut the bridge in two.

Less than two days later, Ukrainian troops hit a second bridge in Russia, according to Oleshchuk and Russian regional Gov. Alexei Smirnov.

As of Sunday morning, there were no officials giving the exact location of the second bridge attack. But Russian Telegram channels claimed that a second bridge over the Seim, in the village of Zvannoe, had been struck.

According to Russia’s Mash news site, the attacks left only one intact bridge in the area. The Associated Press could not immediately verify these claims. If confirmed, the Ukrainian strikes would further complicate Moscow’s attempts to replenish its forces and evacuate civilians.

Glushkovo is about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of the Ukrainian border, and approximately 16 kilometers (10 miles) northwest of the main battle zone in Kursk. Zvannoe is located another 8 kilometers (5 miles) to the northwest.

Kyiv previously has said little about the goals of its push into Russia with tanks and other armored vehicles, the largest attack on the country since World War II, which took the Kremlin by surprise and saw scores of villages and hundreds of prisoners fall into Ukrainian hands.

The Ukrainians drove deep into the region in several directions, facing little resistance and sowing chaos and panic as tens of thousands of civilians fled. Ukraine’s Commander in Chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, claimed last week that his forces had advanced across 1,000 square kilometers (390 square miles) of the region, although it was not possible to independently verify what Ukrainian forces effectively control.

Buffer zones sought by both sides

In his remarks on creating a buffer zone, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces “achieved good and much-needed results.”

Analysts say that although Ukraine could try to consolidate its gains inside Russia, it would be risky, given Kyiv’s limited resources, because its own supply lines extending deep into Kursk would be vulnerable.

The incursion has proven Ukraine’s ability to seize the initiative and has boosted its morale, which was sapped by a failed counteroffensive last summer and months of grinding Russian gains in the eastern Donbas region.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin said while visiting China in May that Moscow’s offensive that month in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region was aimed at creating a buffer zone there.

That offensive opened a new front and displaced thousands of Ukrainians. The attacks were a response to Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region, Putin said.

“I have said publicly that if it continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a sanitary zone,” he said. “That’s what we are doing.”

Ukraine’s move into Kursk resembled its lightning operation from September 2022, led by Syrskyi, in which its forces reclaimed control of the northeastern Kharkiv region after taking advantage of Russian manpower shortages and a lack of field fortifications.

Zelenskyy seeks permission to strike deeper into Russia

On Saturday, Zelenskyy urged Kyiv’s allies to lift remaining restrictions on using Western weapons to attack targets deeper in Russia, including in Kursk, saying his troops could deprive Moscow “of any ability to advance and cause destruction” if granted sufficient long-range capabilities.

“It is crucial that our partners remove barriers that hinder us from weakening Russian positions in the way this war demands. … The bravery of our soldiers and the resilience of our combat brigades compensate for the lack of essential decisions from our partners,” Zelenskyy said on the social platform X.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry and pro-Kremlin bloggers alleged U.S.-made HIMARS launchers have been used to destroy bridges on the Seim. These claims could not be independently verified.

Ukraine’s leaders have repeatedly sought authorization for long-range strikes on Russian air bases and other infrastructure used to pummel Ukraine’s energy facilities and other civilian targets, including with retrofitted Soviet-era “glide bombs” attacking Ukraine’s industrial east in recent months.

Moscow also appears to have increased attacks on Kyiv, targeting it Sunday with ballistic missiles for a third time this month, according to the head of the municipal military administration. Serhii Popko said in a Telegram post the “almost identical” August strikes on the capital “most likely used” North Korean-supplied KN-23 missiles.

Another attempt to target Kyiv followed at about 7 a.m. Popko said, this time with Iskander cruise missiles. Ukrainian air defenses struck down all the missiles fired in both attacks on the city, he said.

Fears mount for Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Elsewhere, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Saturday the safety situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is deteriorating.

International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi urged “maximum restraint from all sides” after an IAEA team at the plant reported an explosive carried by a drone detonated just outside its protected area.

According to Grossi, the impact was “close to the essential water sprinkle ponds” and about 100 meters (100 yards) from the only power line supplying the plant. The IAEA team at the plant has reported intense military activity in the surrounding area in the past week, it said.

Kyiv and Moscow have traded blame for attacks near the power plant since it was captured by Russian forces early in the 2022 invasion, including a fire at the facility last weekend. Grossi said the blaze had caused “considerable damage,” but posed no immediate danger to nuclear safety.

Belarus says it’s deploying more troops on Ukraine border

Russian ally Belarus has massed “nearly a third” of its army along its border with Ukraine, according to authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Lukashenko told Russian state TV that Minsk was responding to the deployment of more than 120,000 Ukrainian troops to the 1,084-kilometer (674 mile) frontier. Belarus’ professional army numbers upward of 60,000.

Ukrainian border force spokesman Andrii Demchenko said Sunday it had not observed any sign of a Belarusian buildup.

Lukashenko, in power for three decades, has relied on Russian support to suppress the biggest protests in Belarus’ post-Soviet history after his 2020 reelection, widely seen as a sham both at home and abroad. He allowed Russian troops to use Belarus’ territory to invade Ukraine and let Moscow deploy some tactical nuclear weapons on its soil.

乌克兰基辅（美联社）——乌克兰总统泽连斯基周日表示，此次大胆的军事入侵俄罗斯库尔斯克地区的目的是建立一个缓冲区，以防止莫斯科越境发动进一步袭击。

这是泽连斯基首次明确阐述8月6日开始的军事行动的目标。此前，他曾表示，此次行动旨在保护邻近的苏梅地区的居民免受持续炮击。

泽连斯基在夜间讲话中表示：“我们现在在防御行动中的首要任务是：尽可能摧毁俄罗斯的战争潜力，并采取最大限度的反攻行动。这包括在侵略者领土上建立缓冲区——我们在库尔斯克地区的行动。”

官员称，本周末，乌克兰摧毁了该地区的一座重要桥梁，并袭击了附近的另一座桥梁，切断了补给线，从而加强了入侵行动。

亲克里姆林宫的军事博客作者承认，格卢什科沃镇附近塞姆河上第一座桥梁的损毁将阻碍向抵抗乌克兰入侵的俄军运送补给，尽管莫斯科仍然可以使用浮桥和小型桥梁。乌克兰空军司令尼古拉·奥列舒克中将周五发布了一段空袭视频，视频显示空袭将这座桥梁炸成两截。

不到两天后，据奥列舒克和俄罗斯地区州长阿列克谢·斯米尔诺夫称，乌克兰军队袭击了俄罗斯境内的第二座桥梁。

截至周日上午，官方尚未公布第二次桥梁袭击的确切地点。但俄罗斯Telegram频道声称，位于兹瓦诺耶村的塞姆河上的第二座桥梁遭到袭击。

据俄罗斯Mash新闻网站报道，袭击事件导致该地区仅剩一座桥梁完好无损。美联社目前尚无法核实这些说法。如果消息属实，乌克兰的空袭将进一步阻碍莫斯科补充兵力和疏散平民的努力。

格卢什科沃位于乌克兰边境以北约 12 公里（7.5 英里）处，库尔斯克主战场西北约 16 公里（10 英里）处。兹瓦诺耶位于格卢什科沃西北方向 8 公里（5 英里）处。

基辅此前很少谈及此次用坦克和其他装甲车辆入侵俄罗斯的目标。这是自二战以来对俄罗斯的最大规模进攻，令克里姆林宫措手不及，数十个村庄和数百名战俘落入乌克兰人手中。

乌克兰军队从多个方向深入该地区，几乎没有遇到抵抗，引发混乱和恐慌，导致数万平民逃离家园。乌克兰总司令奥列克桑德·瑟尔斯基将军上周声称，他的部队已推进至该地区1000平方公里（390平方英里）的区域，但目前尚无法独立核实乌克兰军队实际控制的区域范围。

双方都寻求缓冲区

泽连斯基在谈到建立缓冲区时表示，乌克兰军队“取得了良好且急需的成果”。

分析人士表示，尽管乌克兰可以尝试巩固其在俄罗斯境内取得的成果，但考虑到基辅资源有限，这样做是有风险的，因为其延伸至库尔斯克深处的补给线将变得脆弱。

这次入侵证明了乌克兰有能力掌握主动权，提振了乌克兰的士气。此前，乌克兰的士气因去年夏天反攻失败以及俄罗斯在顿巴斯东部地区数月来的蚕食性进展而受到打击。

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京在5月访问中国时表示，莫斯科当月在乌克兰东北部哈尔科夫地区发动的攻势旨在在那里建立一个缓冲区。

那次攻势开辟了新的战线，导致数千名乌克兰人流离失所。普京表示，这些袭击是对乌克兰炮击俄罗斯别尔哥罗德地区的回应。

“我曾公开表示，如果这种情况继续下去，我们将被迫设立安全区、卫生区，”他说。“而这正是我们正在做的。”

乌克兰进军库尔斯克的行动类似于其在 2022 年 9 月由瑟尔斯基领导的闪电战，当时乌克兰军队利用俄罗斯人力短缺和缺乏野战工事，重新控制了东北部的哈尔科夫地区。

泽连斯基寻求允许对俄罗斯境内更深处发动打击。

周六，泽连斯基敦促基辅的盟友解除对使用西方武器攻击俄罗斯境内更深处目标（包括库尔斯克目标）的剩余限制，称如果给予俄罗斯军队足够的远程作战能力，就能使莫斯科“丧失任何推进和造成破坏的能力”。

“至关重要的是，我们的伙伴必须消除阻碍我们以这场战争所需的方式削弱俄罗斯阵地的障碍。……我们士兵的英勇和我们作战旅的韧性弥补了我们伙伴在关键决策上的不足，”泽连斯基在社交平台X上表示。

俄罗斯外交部和亲克里姆林宫的博客作者声称，美国制造的HIMARS导弹发射器已被用于摧毁塞姆河上的桥梁。这些说法无法得到独立证实。

乌克兰领导人多次寻求授权，对俄罗斯空军基地和其他基础设施进行远程打击，这些基地和基础设施被用来猛烈攻击乌克兰的能源设施和其他民用目标，包括近几个月来使用改装的苏联时代“滑翔炸弹”袭击乌克兰东部工业区。

据基辅市军事管理局局长称，莫斯科似乎也加大了对基辅的袭击力度，周日第三次使用弹道导弹袭击了基辅。谢尔盖·波普科在Telegram上发帖称，8月份对首都的袭击“几乎如出一辙”，而且“很可能使用了”朝鲜提供的KN-23导弹。

波普科说，大约早上7点，乌克兰方面再次试图袭击基辅，这次使用的是“伊斯坎德尔”巡航导弹。他表示，乌克兰防空部队击落了两次袭击中发射的所有导弹。

人们对扎波罗热核电站的担忧日益加剧

另一方面，联合国核监督机构负责人周六表示，俄罗斯占领的扎波罗热核电站的安全状况正在恶化。

国际原子能机构总干事拉斐尔·格罗西敦促“各方保持最大限度的克制”，此前国际原子能机构的一个小组报告称，一架无人机携带的爆炸物在其保护区外引爆。

格罗西表示，爆炸地点“靠近重要的洒水池”，距离为该核电站供电的唯一输电线路约100米（100码）。国际原子能机构（IAEA）驻该核电站的小组报告称，过去一周周边地区军​​事活动频繁。

自2022年初俄军入侵以来，基辅和莫斯科就核电站附近发生的袭击事件互相指责，其中包括上周末该设施发生的火灾。格罗西表示，火灾造成了“相当大的损失”，但并未对核安全构成直接威胁。

白俄罗斯称将向乌克兰边境增派军队

据俄罗斯独裁总统亚历山大·卢卡申科称，俄罗斯盟友白俄罗斯已在其与乌克兰接壤的边境集结了“近三分之一”的军队。

卢卡申科告诉俄罗斯国家电视台，明斯克此举是为了回应乌克兰向长达1084公里（674英里）的边境线部署超过12万名士兵。白俄罗斯的职业军队人数超过6万人。

乌克兰边防部队发言人安德烈·德姆琴科周日表示，他们没有发现任何白俄罗斯军队集结的迹象。

卢卡申科执政三十年，在2020年连任后，依靠俄罗斯的支持镇压了白俄罗斯后苏联时代规模最大的抗议活动。他的连任在国内外都被广泛认为是一场骗局。他允许俄罗斯军队利用白俄罗斯领土入侵乌克兰，并允许莫斯科在其境内部署一些战术核武器。