“I think there’s a case to be made that is in our national security interest, whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, for Ukraine to survive and thrive,” one of the senators said.
US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal have praised Ukraine’s offensive in Russia’s Kursk region during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the country’s capital of Kyiv.
The senators were visiting Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday as part of a US bipartisan congressional delegation.
“Taking this war to (Russian President, Vladimir) Putin and making him understand and pay a price is the right thing,” Graham told Zelenskyy, adding that the move was “bold and brilliant”.
On Monday Ukraine’s top military commander said his forces now control 1,000 square kilometres of Russia’s neighbouring Kursk region.
The Ukrainian operation is under tight secrecy, and its goals remain unclear.
The stunning manoeuvre that caught the Kremlin’s forces off guard counters Russia’s unrelenting effort in recent months to punch through Ukrainian defences at selected points along the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has seen previous incursions into its territory during the nearly two-and-a-half-year war but the foray into the Kursk region marked the largest attack on its soil since World War II, constituting a milestone in the hostilities.
It’s also the first time the Ukrainian army has spearheaded an incursion rather than pro-Ukraine Russian fighters.
The senators told Zelenskyy of plans to pass a piece of legislation called ‘Stand by Ukraine’ to codify US support for Ukraine.
“You’re fighting our fight, the independence, freedom of people around the world, including the United States,” said Blumenthal.
“I think there’s a case to be made that is in our national security interest, whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, for Ukraine to survive and thrive,” added Graham.
According to the press service of Ukraine’s President, during the meeting with the US delegation, Zeleneskyy emphasised the importance of receiving military and technical assistance from partners, including air defence systems and missiles.
Residents evacuated from Belgorod
Russian state TV channel RU-RTR on Monday aired footage of civilians being evacuated in the Ukraine border-adjacent Belgorod region, as well as wounded civilians in the neighbouring Kursk region the day before.
The television report said the Ukrainian military opened fire on a car, injuring a woman’s forearm.
Daniil Tumayev, a 20-year-old resident of the village of Gogolevka, said he was trying to save his grandmother and younger brother when he himself came under artillery fire.
The governor of the region adjacent to Kursk, Vyacheslav Gladkov announced the evacuation of people from a district near the Ukrainian border, describing Monday morning as “alarming” but giving no detail.
