INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ukraine was fully within its rights to launch its surprise offensive into Russia's Kursk border region as an act of self-defense, NATO chief
Jens Stoltenberg told German newspaper Die Welt.The offensive launched on Aug
6 caught the Kremlin off guard, with Kyiv claiming to have captured dozens of settlements and more than 1,200 square kilometers (nearly 500
square miles) of territory."Ukraine has a right to defend itself
And according to international law, this right does not stop at the border," Stoltenberg said in an interview with Die Welt published
Saturday."The Russian soldiers, tanks and bases there [Kursk] are legitimate targets under international law."The offensive also surprised
Kyiv's allies, with Stoltenberg saying Ukraine "did not preview its planning" with NATO and that the Western military alliance "played no
Berlin prepares cuts to its aid to Kyiv in next year's budget.Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government came under fierce criticism for the
He says Germany will continue to supply the outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian military with the equipment it needs.The Kursk offensive has
changed little on the front line in eastern Ukraine, where Russia continues to claim incremental gains, including three villages on
Friday.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged his army faces an "extremely difficult" situation near the strategic hub of
Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, with Russian troops closing in.
