The President is touring the northeastern region in his first visit to the border area since Ukrainian forces entered Russian territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited border areas in the Sumy region from where his forces launched a major offensive into Russia's Kursk region this month.
The president said Thursday he had met with Oleksandr Syrskii, the army's commander-in-chief, receiving briefings on the “operational situation in all active combat zones,” in a video posted on the social media platform X.
The Ukrainian army's surprise raid on Kursk on August 6 allowed it to seize control of dozens of settlements, forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee and taking hundreds of prisoners.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine had “replenished the exchange fund,” referring to captured Russian soldiers who could be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Moscow.
Ukrainian officials have said the goals of the offensive included creating a “buffer zone” in Russian territory, seeking an end to the war on “fair” terms and expanding Russian forces.
In his statement on Thursday, the president said there had been a decrease in shelling and civilian casualties in Sumy since the Kursk operation.
However, Ukrainian troops continue to fight in the eastern region of Donbas, where the Russian army has been making steady advances.
Zelenskyy said he discussed the “most difficult areas of the front” with his army chief, in particular the strategic hubs of Donetsk, Toretsk and Pokrovsk, where Moscow's forces have concentrated their offensive for months and where fierce fighting continues.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will give a “dignified response” to the Kursk incursion, which he has described as a major provocation.
Putin met with senior officials on Thursday to discuss the situation in the border areas.
Kursk's acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, said 133,190 people had left or been evacuated from the region.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit kyiv on Friday to meet Zelensky and said he will discuss ending the war with Russia.
“India believes that war cannot be a solution to any conflict. We support dialogue and diplomacy,” Modi said during a joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on Thursday.
Modi met Putin in July. India has avoided condemning the Russian invasion and is the world's biggest buyer of Russian arms.
