KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Moscow had attempted to push back Ukrainian positions in the Russian Kursk region but that Kyiv was “holding the line.”
Ukraine has held on to swathes of Russia’s Kursk region since early August.
“Regarding the Kursk operation, there were attempts by Russia to push back our positions, but we are holding the lines,” Zelensky said.
Russia earlier this week said it had recaptured two villages in the Kursk region, and vowed to continue to push Ukrainian forces out of its territory.
Ukraine has said its offensive is intended to create a buffer zone in the region to stop shelling of its border areas.
Zelensky also acknowledged that the situation for Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region and southern Zaporizhzhia region was “very difficult.”
Kyiv said earlier that Russian attacks Saturday had killed two people in the eastern Donetsk region: a 19-year-old traveling in a civilian car and an 84-year-old pensioner.
Zelensky says Ukrainian forces ‘holding the line’ in Kursk
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Zelensky says Ukrainian forces ‘holding the line’ in Kursk
- Ukraine has held on to swathes of Russia’s Kursk region since early August
- “Regarding the Kursk operation, there were attempts by Russia to push back our positions, but we are holding the lines,” Zelensky said
China congratulates Tanzania for ‘successful conduct’ of elections
- “China reiterated its full confidence in Tanzania’s leadership and institutions to manage internal affairs independently,” they added
DAR ES SALAM: China’s top diplomat has warned against foreign interference in Tanzania as he ended a visit where he avoided any mention of the political violence that has soured the East African country’s relations with the West.
Wang Yi is the first foreign minister to pay an official visit to Tanzania since the bloody crackdown on election protesters late last year.
The Tanzanian opposition says at least 2,000 people were killed by security forces following the Oct. 29 legislative and presidential elections which international observers deemed fraudulent.
China, which has invested heavily in Tanzania in recent years, did not comment on the crackdown that sparked a wave of global criticism.
In a statement shared after the visit, Tanzanian authorities said Wang had congratulated the country for the “successful conduct” of the elections.
“China reiterated its full confidence in Tanzania’s leadership and institutions to manage internal affairs independently,” they added.
Meanwhile, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said Beijing “opposes any external force interfering in Tanzania’s internal affairs” and stressed its support for the country’s “national sovereignty and security.”
Wang also met Tanzanian leader Samia Suluhu Hassan, who retained the presidency last year with 98 percent of the vote.
He “reaffirmed China’s firm support for Tanzania” during the meeting, a Tanzanian presidency statement said.
The statement pledged to strengthen cooperation and noted a rise in trade between the two countries over the last five years, “thanks to China’s policy of opening its markets to Africa.”
China has beefed up its investments in the country’s low-tax special economic zones, where 343 Chinese-funded projects worth $3.1 billion were registered in 2025 alone, according to the Tanzanian Foreign Ministry. After Tanzania, Wang is expected to continue his African tour in Lesotho.
