Ukraine Makes First Acknowledgement of Kursk Offensive

The Facts

• For the first time since launching an offensive into Russia's Kursk region earlier this week, Ukraine acknowledged its role in the assault on Thursday, justifying it as a means of achieving peace in its country.

• In an interview with domestic television, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said: "Do they [Russia] respond to anything other than fear? No, this needs to be understood. Russia sees any compromise as a sign of weakness and readiness to submit. Negotiations can only be productive if they understand the war is not going according to their script."

• Later on Telegram, he added: "Russia has consistently believed that prohibitive legal norms do not apply to it, allowing it to attack neighboring countries with impunity while hypocritically demanding the inviolability of its own territories. But war has its rules, and the aggressor always reaps the consequences."