Zelenskyy confirms for first time that Ukrainian troops active in Russia's Belgorod region

In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said Ukraine's top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, had presented a report "on the front line, our presence in the Kursk region and our presence in the Belgorod region." Zelenskyy repeated Kyiv's long-held contention that despite Russia's recapture of areas of Kursk in recent weeks, the operation was successful in that it drew Russian forces away from the war's main front line in Ukraine's Donetsk region. The president last month referred obliquely to "certain steps" undertaken by Ukraine's military in Russia "a little below the Kursk region", implicitly suggesting a presence in Belgorod region.