Speaking about operations in the Kursk region, Pekhno emphasized that Ukrainian forces haven’t fully withdrawn.
“Roughly 90 square kilometers remain under the control of our Defense Forces,” he said. “Special Operations Forces conducted a raid there — our rangers are working hard. They didn’t just capture 14 enemy officers; our special forces also took out 30 Russian troops.”
Pekhno said operations in Belgorod Oblast are also progressing well.
“This week, our Supreme Commander-in-Chief officially recognized the mission in Belgorod,” he noted. “The 225th Assault Regiment, which kicked off the Kursk operation, has moved in. The ‘Birds of Madyar’ are flying missions there, and what’s remarkable is that in just 23 days, they’ve hit around 60 enemy tanks.”
He said the scale of Russian armored deployments in the area underscores Moscow’s efforts to force Ukrainian troops out of Belgorod.
New pressure zones forming inside Russia
According to Pekhno, Ukraine is actively creating buffer zones on Russian territory and may be preparing to push into new regions.
“Why not consider the possibility that this could be a move into Bryansk Oblast?” he asked. “It would be a logical next step in creating additional pressure points on the Russian Federation.”
Zelenskyy: The war must return to where it started
On April 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had received a battlefield briefing from Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi detailing Ukrainian military activity in the Kursk and Belgorod regions.
“We continue to conduct active operations in enemy border areas,” Zelenskyy said. “That’s absolutely justified — the war must return to where it came from. Our top priority remains protecting our land and our people in Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts from Russian occupation.”