Yuriy Kobzar21:57, 08/14/24

In Kyiv, they are tired of appeasing the constant fears of the West and are simply annoyed by all the restrictions on the use of Western weapons.

The sensational invasion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region means that Ukraine no longer wants to be a “battering ball” for the sake of Western complacency, and it has no intention of handing over its territories to Russia in exchange for peace, as Donald Trump probably plans to do after his victory at the elections. This opinion was expressed by the British journalist, Eastern Europe expert Roger Boyce in an author’s article for The Times .

The observer believes that Volodymyr Zelenskyi made the final decision to conduct the Kursk offensive operation after the July NATO summit, at which Ukraine was once again denied NATO membership, and Joe Biden also managed to call the Ukrainian president “Vladimir Putin”.

“The Ukrainian leader made the appropriate conclusions. His country had to fight the Russians in a different way. (…) The agreements [on the terms of use of weapons provided by partners] exhausted Ukraine, turning it into a permanent victim, a ball for the Russians to beat. (. ..) Waving the finger from Biden’s White House or Olaf Scholz’s Berlin office no longer made sense in Kyiv. Biden’s apparent weakness inspired Zelensky,” Boyce believes.

So the Ukrainian army went ahead, using Stryker armored personnel carriers and Humvee armored vehicles from the USA, Marder BMP from Germany. So far, the Ukrainians have not put American ATACMS missiles into action, which could be used to hit airfields deeper in Russia. So far, Ukraine has not received permission for this. But Zelenskyy “can just go ahead” again, the observer is convinced.

The journalist also speaks enthusiastically about the “information blackout” that accompanied the entire first week of the Ukrainian operation near Kursk. This, in particular, enabled Kyiv to “fend off any interference from the West, evade difficult questions.”

“A message to the West: Thanks for the weapons and a bunch of advice, but we determine the pace of our war. And let’s work on that basis in the post-Biden era. A message to Putin: This war is not over. If you think we’re going to Trump’s peace agreement, which will divide Ukraine, think again,” a British journalist describes Zelenskyi’s probable logic.

The observer also sees several other motives for the Ukrainian offensive:

• show the strengths of the Ukrainian army — mobility, improvisation, decision-making speed;
• to highlight Putin’s insecurity and the internal tension between the army and the FSB, which under Russian law is responsible for guarding the border;
• to force Russia to transfer troops from eastern Ukraine to protect Kursk; 
• present Putin with the politically awkward choice of increasing troop numbers by mobilizing, or having trouble with not enough troops to cover all areas. 

“This unpopular event (mobilization – UNIAN) can revive the anti-war movement among young people, burst the bubble of complacency. (…) Putin’s system is built on popular cynicism (nothing matters) and apathy (nothing can be changed). The last twist in this war can help break this system,” says Roger Boyce.

(C)UNIAN 2024