CNN — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed Kyiv’s troops are fighting inside Russia, days into the surprise Ukrainian cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region that has become a major embarrassment for the Kremlin.
“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,” Zelensky said in his nightly address to the nation on Saturday, thanking “every unit” of Ukraine’s armed forces for making it possible “to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory.”
The statement marked the first time Zelensky officially acknowledged the incursion, which took by surprise both Russia and Ukraine’s allies. Ukrainian officials have for days remained tight-lipped about the operation, even as photographs, videos and firsthand reports of Ukrainian soldiers inside Russia started to emerge.
Moscow has been scrambling to contain the attack. Russian authorities imposed a sweeping counter-terror operation in Kursk and two other border regions and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from Kursk.
Now into its sixth day, the attack on Kursk is a significant development in the more than two-year old conflict.
Attack is the best defense?
In the wider war yes. This move will force Russia to pull units from reserve lines in other areas of conflict, therefore weakening the lines they come from. It will contribute to diminishing their manpower capabilities as they are capturing large numbers of Russian soldiers during this operation.
Most importantly though it gives Ukraine a bargaining chip at the peace table. If they have territory that Russia REALLY REALLY wants back then they will be more willing to cede territory back to Ukraine in exchange. Taking and holding these territories is a massive win for Ukraine.
Yeah, I think if they can hold it, it makes a lot of sense.
I would add that I imagine that it’s also a pretty strong psychological strike against the morale of Russian soldiers.
Personally, I’m typically outside the mainstream on the war in Ukraine (I’m more skeptical of the unquestioning supply of aid by the US than most people), but I think that strategically, this makes plenty of sense. And as much as I really hate war or loss of life even by the aggressors, I can’t help but wish to see the kind of progress that forces Russia to end this insane, disgusting folly of an invasion as quickly as possible.
Putting the war on the doorstep of Russian citizens is another way that Ukraine can pressure them into going to the peace table. If Putin doesn’t do something about this then he will face a massive wave of dissent. He has probably already lost a lot of influence due to this happening.
Is Ukraine just supposed to stay in their country and let Russia fire missiles at them on a daily basis?
Withdrawing would just mean they get missiles fired at them by Russia on a daily basis on the other side of the border, and Russia does not have infinite resources, a missile fired in the north is one not fired in the east or south.
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The stalemate and slow meat grinder is helping Russia. Sitting there and slowly getting grounded doesn’t help Ukraine.
What the others said plus Ukraine has gotten pretty good at setting up defensive lines that become meat grinders for Russian attacks. The Russian offensive is winding down in Ukraine, which means they are settling in and won’t be using up as many resources and they’ll get to play the defensive game with Ukraine coming at them instead. If they can hold what they have, they might get to keep it if Ukraine eventually gives up, so they can bide their time on offensives.
By taking some territory from Russia, they can’t just dig in and hold it, they need to retake that land, so Ukraine can set up the meat grinders there to keep Russian manpower and resource losses high. Also, Ukraine can set up a more elastic defense because holding that land isn’t as important as defending their own territory. Pulling back tactically doesn’t mean that Putin will control the fate of a Ukrainian settlement in the area given up.
Plus, all they need to do is treat any settlements they do take decently and Putin might lose popular support since their whole justification for the invasion is that the Ukrainians are as evil now as the Nazis were.
Also, due to the shape of the geography, Russia has more space it needs to defend from random attacks like this than Ukraine does. Sure, the border is the same length on both sides, but it’s easier to centralize in a convex area than a concave area. If you’re in a convex area, you can travel straight to areas of interest on the border. If you’re in a concave area, you need to go around things to get to any spot on the border.
So Ukraine could have one force that could attack in a number of places or respond to defend while Putin would have to stretch a similar force out more to be able to respond just as fast or move it more to set up an attack (which then would have fewer options for where to attack).
I just hope they are setting something up with the people of Belarus. It would be both awesome and hilarious to see Belarus get liberated with the help of Ukraine in the middle of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Also, Ukraine being able to do this isn’t a great sign for Russia’s preparedness for WWIII. If things go in that direction, Putin will be at risk of becoming China’s puppet in the best case scenarios for him.