Ukraine ramps up strikes deep within Russia
Ukraine's Chief of Staff, Oleksandr Syrskyi, announced that his country will intensify its strikes against Russian military targets.
Ukrainian Chief of Staff, Oleksandr Syrskyi, announced on Sunday that his country intends to intensify its strikes against military targets deep within Russia, as part of what he described as an "effective" deterrence and counterattack strategy.
"Of course, we will continue. We will increase the scale and depth of operations," Syrskyi told reporters, as reported by AFP. He emphasized that Kyiv will target only Russian military sites, in an effort to undermine Moscow's offensive capabilities.
These statements come at a time when diplomatic efforts to end the more than three-year-old war are at a complete standstill. The last round of negotiations between the two sides was held about three weeks ago, with no date set for the resumption of talks.
The Chief of Staff emphasized that remaining on the defensive does not serve Ukraine's interests, saying, "We will not be content with remaining on the defensive, because that is pointless and will ultimately lead us to our current state of retreat and loss of men and territory."
On the other hand, Syrsky acknowledged that Russia has a technical advantage in drone warfare, pointing to its use of fiber-optic drones that are difficult to jam. He added, "Unfortunately, in this matter, they have an advantage in both numbers and scope of use."
In a notable development on the ground, Syrsky confirmed that Ukrainian forces still control approximately 90 square kilometers of territory within Russia's Kursk Oblast, where they launched a surprise attack last August. He described these operations as "preemptive measures to respond to a potential enemy attack."
For its part, Moscow confirmed last April that it had regained full control of the Kursk Oblast and denied any Ukrainian troop presence there.
Russia still controls about a fifth of Ukraine's territory, having declared its annexation of four Ukrainian regions since the start of its offensive in 2022, in addition to the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
Kyiv accuses Moscow of sabotaging any efforts to reach a peace agreement, believing the Kremlin is seeking to prolong the war in order to expand its control over Ukrainian territory.
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ANHA
