Ekaterina Girnyk14:19, 08.08.24

For Ukraine, this would bolster the argument that the US and European allies should not fear the Kremlin’s threats of escalation.

The successful raid of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into the Kursk region was the first time since World War II that another country’s army invaded Russia, Bloomberg writes , noting that the Ukrainian invasion caught the Russian military by surprise and weakened Vladimir Putin’s position.

The episode exposed the fragility of Russia’s border defenses and boosted Ukrainian morale, the newspaper notes. It also undermined the Kremlin’s carefully crafted image of Putin as a defender of ordinary Russians, as the war he started in Ukraine increasingly spills over into Russia.

“For Ukraine, it would likely bolster Kyiv’s argument that U.S. and European allies should not fear the Kremlin’s threats of escalation and that Ukraine should be allowed to fight Putin in any way it sees fit to hasten the end of the war,” Bloomberg notes.

Breakthrough into the territory of Kursk region – what is known

Let us recall that, according to the conclusions of analysts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW),  Ukrainian forces have advanced 10 kilometers into the Kursk region  of the Russian Federation as part of an operation on Russian territory.

Analysts say Ukraine may have several goals , from trying to seize territory as a potential bargaining chip in future negotiations with Moscow to trying to distract Russian forces in the east.

(C)UNIAN 2024