Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly confirmed that Ukrainian troops are active in Russia’s Belgorod region, a rare explicit acknowledgment that expands what Kyiv has already implied about its cross-border operations.
Speaking in a video address, the Ukrainian president said the army was continuing “active operations in the border areas on enemy territory” and framed the effort as a way to make the war “return to where it came from.” He said the main objective was to protect Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv border regions and to ease pressure on other parts of the front, especially in Donetsk.
It is the first time Zelensky has directly said Ukrainian troops are operating in Belgorod. He had previously been more cautious, saying only on March 18 that “there is an operation there” when asked about reports of fighting inside the region. On Monday he thanked several Ukrainian units, including the 225th Assault Regiment, and said he was briefed on developments in both the Kursk and Belgorod regions.
The acknowledgement matters because it confirms a second active Ukrainian operation inside Russia after last year’s offensive in Kursk. Moscow had previously reported attempts by Ukrainian forces to cross into Belgorod and said they had been repelled, while Russian military bloggers and outside analysts suggested fighting had in fact reached nearby villages.
The scale appears limited. Analysts cited by the BBC said they believed about 12 square kilometres of Belgorod region remained under Ukrainian control, compared with roughly 60 square kilometres in Kursk. That makes Belgorod a much smaller operation than Ukraine’s earlier push in Kursk, where Kyiv briefly seized villages and the town of Sudzha.
Ukrainian officials say the incursions force Russia to divert troops away from eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have been making slow gains. They also leave open the possibility that territory held inside Russia could one day become a bargaining chip in negotiations.
The comments came as pressure on Kyiv intensified on several fronts. Donald Trump told reporters he was “not happy” with the situation and accused Russia of “bombing like crazy right now,” after funerals in Kryvyi Rih for victims of a Russian missile strike. Zelensky has been trying to keep attention on that attack while defending the need for continued military pressure across the border.
The Kremlin has dismissed U.S. and European criticism that it is slowing ceasefire efforts, and Russian officials have continued to deny that Ukraine has made meaningful gains on Russian territory. But Zelensky’s remarks leave little doubt that Kyiv wants the Belgorod operation understood as deliberate, not accidental.
For now, the president is offering no detail on troop numbers, objectives or a timeline. But by confirming the presence of Ukrainian forces in Belgorod, he has made the operation an open part of Ukraine’s war strategy rather than a matter of inference or battlefield rumor.
