Zelenskyy raises issue of establishing military commandants’ offices in Russia’s Kursk Oblast – video

At a special meeting on Wednesday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy brought up the issue of establishing military commandants’ offices if required in the territories of Russia’s Kursk Oblast that are under the control of Ukraine’s defence forces.

Source: the President’s social media; Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets; Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk

Quote: “[We’ve had] a meeting on the situation in Kursk Oblast. We discussed the key issues: security, humanitarian aid, establishment of military commandants’ offices if necessary.

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Ukraine is protecting itself and the lives of its people in the border hromadas and is taking actions on Russian territory.” [A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories – ed.]

Details: Zelenskyy stressed that Ukrainian forces strictly adhere to the requirements of international conventions and international humanitarian law.

An official video of the meeting with the President shows that it was attended by the head of the President’s Office, Andrii Yermak; Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko; Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal; Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk; Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi (via video link).

Updated: Lubinets added in a social media post that in exercising its right to self-defence, according to Article 51 of the UN Charter, Ukraine not only has the right to defend itself, but must also comply with all international conventions and the requirements of international humanitarian law.

The Ukrainian military has therefore formed a buffer zone in Kursk Oblast for the purposes of self-defence.

Lubinets said that the meeting’s attendees also discussed the issue of access for representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN and other impartial international organisations to carry out humanitarian activities. Officials stationed in the buffer zone should ensure the supply of food, medicines and other essentials to the civilian population, the Ombudsman stressed.

Iryna Vereshchuk stressed that Russian civilians within the buffer zone are protected by international humanitarian law, which Ukraine fully complies with.

Therefore, the Ukrainian military plans to:

1. Carry out humanitarian operations to support civilians within the zone.
2. Open humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians towards both Russia and Ukraine.
3. Admit international humanitarian organisations into the zone to provide a humanitarian response and monitor the humanitarian situation.

The relevant preparations and consultations are currently underway, Vereshchuk added.

Previously: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stressed that Ukraine is not interested in taking territory in Kursk Oblast, but wants to protect the lives of its own people, and the operation has prevented the Russians from redeploying additional units to Donetsk Oblast and complicated their logistics.

Background:

• On the morning of 6 August, the Russians claimed that Ukrainian forces had mounted an attempt to infiltrate Kursk Oblast, Russia. Russian propagandists and military bloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces had secured a foothold in the border area. Russian ruler Vladimir Putin called the situation a “provocation”.
• On 12 August, Alexei Smirnov, acting Governor of Kursk Oblast in Russia, informed Russian leader Vladimir Putin that 28 towns and villages in Kursk Oblast were “under enemy control”.
• As of 12 August, Ukrainian forces had established control over approximately 44 settlements in Kursk Oblast, according to the DeepState military analysis project.
• Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said at a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that Ukrainian troops were continuing to conduct an offensive operation in Kursk Oblast. “Currently, we have about 1,000 sq km of the Russian Federation under our control… The situation is under our control,” he said.
• On 14 August, Syrskyi said that more than 100 Russian soldiers had been captured in Kursk Oblast since the beginning of the day.

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