Zelenskyy confirms Ukrainian troops are fighting inside 'the aggressor's territory'

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that Ukrainian soldiers are fighting in Russia.
• In an address to the nation, Zelenskyy referenced operations in the "aggressor's territory."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed for the first time that Ukrainian troops have taken the war into Russian territory.

"Today, Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi has already reported several times – on the frontline situation and on our actions to push the war out into the aggressor's territory," he said in an address to the nation on Saturday.

"I thank every unit of our Defense Forces that makes this happen," he continued. "Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed – pressure on the aggressor."

Ukrainian forces pushed into the Kursk region on Tuesday.

Up to 1,000 Ukrainian troops, 11 tanks, and more than 20 armored combat vehicles entered Russian territory, Moscow said, per the BBC.

Russia announced a "counter-terrorism" operation and declared a state of emergency in the Kursk region following the incursions.

"To eliminate the consequences of enemy forces coming into the region, I took the decision to introduce a state of emergency in the Kursk region from August 7," Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of Kursk, wrote on Telegram on Wednesday evening.

In a meeting with Smirnov following the Ukrainian incursion, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured civilians that help was on the way and that the government would "do everything to ensure that the Kursk Region overcomes challenges."

In an update on the Russia-Ukraine war on Saturday, the Institute for the Study of War said that the Kremlin had likely launched its "counter-terrorism" operation in an attempt to "downplay the scale of the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk" to "prevent domestic panic or backlash."