MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky would not have dared to attack Russia’s Kursk Region if the US had not told him to do so, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
He made the comment for the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin." on Rossiya-1 television, a fragment of which was posted to Telegram by host the program’s host Pavel Zarubin.
"It is perfectly clear to everyone that Zelensky would have never done this, and this is certainly Zelensky's decision, as he now is boasting that he is creating a buffer zone and damaging the Russian state. He would never have dared to do this if he had not been instructed to do so by the US," the minister said.
He said the Defense Ministry is in charge of assessing the military situation and regularly updates Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation in the region.
"From the perspective of foreign policy, one’s guilty conscience spoke a long time ago," the minister said.
He also likened Ukrainian’s statements about who gave the go-ahead for the attack on the Kursk Region to a "child’s babble."
Ukrainian forces started a major attack on the Kursk Region on August 6. Missile attack warnings have been issued repeatedly in the region since then, and the government declared a federal-level emergency there. According to the latest data, more than 140 people, including 10 children, were injured in bombardments and admitted to hospitals. More than 10,000 evacuees from the region's border areas have been placed in temporary accommodation centers.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukraine has lost more than 3,460 servicemen, 50 tanks and 45 armored personnel carriers since the start of fighting in the Kursk area. The operation to destroy Ukrainian formations is ongoing.