The Kursk advance in the Ukraine war has taken Russia by surprise and has now lasted for almost two weeks. Ukraine is gaining more and more Russian territory – albeit more slowly – and is causing the aggressor considerable losses. The aggressor, especially the leadership in the Kremlin, appears overwhelmed and clumsy in the situation.
Even though the Kremlin is now withdrawing troops from the Eastern Front in the Ukraine war to Kursk, a problem in the Russian power apparatus has become apparent after the Kursk advance: No one really knows who is actually responsible for domestic defense.
Ukraine claims to “reinforce” its positions, while Moscow, forced to order the withdrawal of several thousand soldiers on its territory, announces having “repulsed” its enemy near three villages.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that his army was “strengthening” its positions in the Russian region of Kursk. On August 6, the Ukrainian army attacked the Kursk region, seizing, according to kyiv, 82 localities and 1,150 square kilometers in an offensive that surprised Moscow.
The capture of Pokrovsk will bring Russian President Vladimir Putin closer to his goal of seizing all of Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
