Zelenskiy: Ukrainian Forces Holding Positions in Russia's Kursk Region

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on October 4, 2024, shows Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) awarding a Ukrainian serviceman of the 82nd Air Assault Brigade at an undisclosed location in the Sumy region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP) /
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on October 4, 2024, shows Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) awarding a Ukrainian serviceman of the 82nd Air Assault Brigade at an undisclosed location in the Sumy region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP) /
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Zelenskiy: Ukrainian Forces Holding Positions in Russia's Kursk Region

This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on October 4, 2024, shows Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) awarding a Ukrainian serviceman of the 82nd Air Assault Brigade at an undisclosed location in the Sumy region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP) /
This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on October 4, 2024, shows Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) awarding a Ukrainian serviceman of the 82nd Air Assault Brigade at an undisclosed location in the Sumy region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP) /

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Russian forces had tried to oust Ukrainian troops from positions in Russia's Kursk border region, but Kyiv's forces were holding their lines.

"Regarding the Kursk operation, Russia tried to push back our positions, but we are holding the designated lines," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

Russia's defense ministry said on Friday that its forces had recaptured two villages in the border Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops launched a mass incursion in August.

One person was killed when a Ukrainian drone struck the Russian village of Ustinka in the Belgorod region close to the border with Ukraine, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement on Saturday.



NATO Chief Rutte Says Zelenskiy's Criticism of Germany's Scholz is Unfair

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a press conference, ahead of a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels, Belgium October 16, 2024. (Reuters)
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a press conference, ahead of a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels, Belgium October 16, 2024. (Reuters)
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NATO Chief Rutte Says Zelenskiy's Criticism of Germany's Scholz is Unfair

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a press conference, ahead of a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels, Belgium October 16, 2024. (Reuters)
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte holds a press conference, ahead of a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels, Belgium October 16, 2024. (Reuters)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said he considered the sometimes harsh criticism of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to be unjustified, news wire DPA reported.
Although Germany has been a vital ally of Ukraine, its hesitation in providing long-range Taurus cruise missiles has been a source of frustration in Kyiv, which is battling a foe armed with a powerful array of long-range weaponry, Reuters reported.
"I have often told Zelenskiy that he should stop criticizing Olaf Scholz, because I think it is unfair," DPA quoted Rutte on Monday as saying in an interview.
Rutte also said that he, unlike Scholz, would supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles and would not set limits on their use.
"In general, we know that such capabilities are very important for Ukraine," Rutte said, adding that it was not up to him to decide what allies should deliver.
After a November telephone call by Scholz with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin in November, Zelenskiy said it had opened a Pandora's box that undermined efforts to isolate the Russian leader and end the war in Ukraine with a "fair peace".