Zelensky tells American weekly about Ukraine's operation in Kursk region

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with the American weekly The New Yorker, Ukrinform reports.

The president said that he was not preoccupied with historic successes but was focused on the here and now. And the operation in the Kursk region has already shown some results.

"It has slowed down the Russians and forced them to move some of their forces to Kursk, on the order of forty thousand troops. Already, our fighters in the east say that they are being battered less frequently," the Ukrainian leader said.

Zelensky also emphasized that he was not saying it is a resounding success, or "will bring about the end of the war, or the end of Putin."

"What it has done is show our partners what we're capable of," Zelensky said, adding that Putin, who claims to have everything under control, in fact does not.

In addition, according to Zelensky, the operation in the Kursk region showed the Russians "a very important truth."

"Unfortunately, many of them have their eyes closed, they don't want to see or hear anything. But some Russian people could not help but notice how Putin did not run to defend his own land. No, instead he wants to first and foremost look after himself, and to finish off Ukraine. His people are not a priority for him," Zelensky said.

He stressed that it had been more than a month since the start of the Kursk operation, with Ukraine continuing to provide food and water to the people in territories it controls. Even though the necessary corridors are open, the Russians do not leave.

"They don't understand why Russia didn't come to help, and left them to survive on their own. And people in Moscow and St. Petersburg -- far from Kursk -- saw that, if one day the Ukrainian Army showed up there, too, it's far from certain they would be saved. That's important," Zelensky said.

According to him, that is also a part of the Kursk operation: long before the war gets to other places in Russia or there is some other crisis, "Russian people should know who they have placed in power for a quarter century, with whom they have thrown in their lot."