Ukrainian troops advance into Russia’s Belgorod, Zelenskyy confirms

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed the presence of Ukrainian troops in Russia's Belgorod region, saying that active operations in the border areas are a justified response to Moscow's ongoing full-scale invasion.

“We continue to carry out active operations in the border areas on enemy territory, and that is absolutely just – war must return to where it came from," Zelenskyy said.

In what marks the first official statement on the incursion in Belgorod, Zelenskyy emphasised that the primary goal of these actions is to protect Ukrainian towns and settlements in the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv, which Russia regularly attacks.

Ukrainian troops have allegedly crossed the Russian border into the Belgorod region in late March.

According to the Institute for the Study of War assessment on 29 March, the geolocated footage confirmed that Ukrainian forces advanced to the village of Popovka, near the border between Russia and Ukraine.

Moscow also confirmed the invasion, saying that Ukrainian troops were trying to "wedge" themselves into the western part of the Belgorod region. Russian authorities claimed that Kyiv was trying to "create a negative background" amid the ongoing talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

This is not the first time Ukraine’s forces have crossed the border into Belgorod. They have carried out occasional raids since 2023, including those with Russian volunteer soldiers fighting on the Ukrainian side. The raids usually lasted a few hours and were not of strategic military importance.

This contrasts with the ongoing operation, which more closely resembles the Kursk incursion in August 2024.

As Ukrainian troops were crossing the border with the Belgorod region, they were also withdrawing from Russia’s Kursk, where Moscow's forces recaptured the logistics hub of Sudzha and a large chunk of territory that Ukrainian troops had been holding since August of last year.

It is still unclear how many troops are present on the ground, how much importance Kyiv gives to the new Belgorod incursion, and how long it plans to hold on to it.