Moscow (Brussels Morning Newspaper ) – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin directed his top commanders to defeat Ukrainian forces in the western region of Kursk as soon as possible after the U.S. asked him to consider a 30-day ceasefire deal, Reuters reported.
According to reports, Ukrainian forces crossed the Russian border on August 6. They seized a slice of land inside Russia in a move intended to distract Moscow’s forces from the front lines in eastern Ukraine and to achieve a potential bargaining chip. However, a lightning advance by the Russians over the past few days has restricted Ukraine with a sliver of less than 200 square km in Kursk, a reduction of 1,300 square km at the peak of the incursion last summer, according to the Russian military.
Putin dressed in military fatigues ordered his general
“Our task in the near future, in the shortest possible timeframe, is to decisively defeat the enemy entrenched in the Kursk region.”
“And of course, we need to think about creating a security zone along the state border.”
Why did Putin order a swift victory in Kursk?
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks, dressed in a green camouflage uniform, came as U.S. President Donald Trump stated he hoped Moscow would accept a ceasefire and said that if not then Washington could push Russia financial pain.
Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s General Staff, conveyed to Putin that Russian forces had forced Ukrainian forces out of over 86% of the territory they had once maintained in Kursk, the equal to 1,100 square km of territory.
Gerasimov stated Ukraine’s plans to utilise Kursk as a bargaining chip in potential future talks with Russia had failed and its scheme that its Kursk operation would push Russia to divert soldiers from its advance in eastern Ukraine had also not performed.
He said Russian troops had retaken 24 villages and 259 square km of land from Ukrainian forces in the last five days along with over 400 detainees.
How has Russia’s Kursk operation reshaped the battlefield?
According to reports, Ukrainian forces are under relentless pressure in Russia’s Kursk region. Russia’s operation to remove Ukrainian forces from Kursk has reached a conclusion, state news agency TASS reported citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Ukraine’s chief army commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, stated on Wednesday that Kyiv’s troops will keep working in Kursk as long as required and that action continued in and around the town of Sudzha.
Moreover, the U.S. on Tuesday decided to resume weapons supplies and intelligence sharing with Kyiv after Ukraine said at discussions in Saudi Arabia that it was willing to support a ceasefire proposal. Russia on Wednesday said it was carefully reviewing the results of that discussion and awaited details from the U.S.
