Russia must feel war consequences, says Zelensky amid Ukrainian attack

Forces had advanced 10km into the Kursk region by the second day of the offensive

Three days after Ukraine launched a cross-border attack on Russia's Kursk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky  said Russia must "feel the consequences" of its invasion of Ukraine.  "Russia brought  war to our country and it should feel the consequences for what it has done," Zelensky said in a speech Thursday night, without directly mentioning the Ukrainian military's attack. "Ukrainians know how to achieve their goals, and we did not choose to achieve them through war," he added.  Russia said at least 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers backed by tanks and armored vehicles entered Russian territory on Tuesday morning  in what is believed to be one of the largest attacks on Russian territory since the start of the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously denounced Ukraine as a "serious provocation." Ukrainian officials have remained largely silent about the attack. Few specific details have been released by either side, making it difficult to gauge the exact situation on the ground. The Ukrainian president said earlier Thursday, without directly mentioning the attack, that "everyone can see that the Ukrainian military knows how to carry out surprise attacks and achieve results." The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was monitoring the Kursk nuclear power plant, according to Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Russian forces were "continuing to destroy Ukrainian armed formations with airstrikes, rockets and artillery fire." It said Russian reserve forces had been deployed to the region.

Local leaders in the region bordering Kursk in Russia and Ukraine have called on residents to leave for safety. On Wednesday, Volodymyr Altyuk, head of Ukraine's Sumy region, ordered the evacuation of the border area with Kursk. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov of Russia's Belgorod region said on Thursday that settlements in the region had been attacked by Ukrainian forces in the past 24 hours. Ukraine's main ally appeared to be surprised by the attack. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the United States would be in touch with Ukraine to better understand what it wants to achieve. This is not the first time that Ukraine-based militants have invaded Russia. Some groups of anti-Kremlin Russians launched attacks last year but were repelled. In March, troops again entered Belgorod and Kursk regions, clashing with Russian security forces.

Russia believes at least 1,000 Ukrainian troops have entered its territory

On Wednesday night, Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko said Ukrainian forces had taken control of the Suzha gas hub, a key facility for transporting natural gas from Russia through Ukraine to the EU, and which has remained operational despite the war. It is the only access point for Russian gas to the EU. He said gas was still flowing from Suzha on Thursday. The Russian National Guard said it had stepped up security measures around the Kursk nuclear power plant, located about 70 km northeast of Suzha. While Russia has made gradual advances in eastern Ukraine in recent months, many of Kiev's ground forces are under relentless attack in the eastern Donbas region. Kirillo Budanov, head of Ukraine's military intelligence, said in a recent interview that the main Russian offensive is "expected to be over within one and a half to two months."