Ukraine must decide what to do with territory it holds in Russia – The Hill

US newspaper The Hill has called the Ukrainian counter-offensive into Russian territory "stunning" and interviewed experts who discuss the plans of the Ukrainian military.

Source: The Hill

Quote: "Ukrainian forces pushed into Russia this week to attack a border region in a stunning counteroffensive that comes after Kyiv has been largely on the defensive for the past year and a half."

Details: The publication writes that Ukraine will now have to decide what to do with the territory it holds in Russia and whether this is a distraction from defence efforts on the front line. 

Tomasz Blusiewicz, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, believes that Ukraine will most likely withdraw from Kursk, but only after forcing Russia to move several brigades that would use positions on the front line.

Quote from Blusiewicz: "Now they have to move. And the Russians are bad at this. They are bad at logistics.

It was a brilliant move by Ukraine. … They have already achieved a huge success by forcing Russia to move its troops, by demonstrating that Russia is defenceless in other areas. It’s a huge prestige blow to Putin."

More details: The Hill also notes that Russia has sent reinforcements to Kursk and says it will be able to repel the Ukrainian forces.

Alena Kudzko, Vice President for Policy and Programming at GLOBSEC think tank, says that while it is unclear how the offensive will play out, Ukraine has successfully changed the narrative of the war by breaking into Russia.

Quote: "Ukrainians are trying hard to change the narrative of the war. Before [Kursk], there was a feeling that the war has become rather predictable, and on many sides, the war was already perceived as frozen.

By doing this attack, Ukraine actually has managed to demonstrate that there’s really space for making this war unpredictable, that there’s space for surprising Russia."

Support UP or become our patron!