Volodymyr Zelensky last night implored his Western backers to green-light the use of long-range missiles to strike deep into Russia.
Emboldened by the stunning offensive of his armed forces into Russia’s Kursk region, the Ukrainian President is seizing the opportunity to hammer home his advantage, claiming drones are not enough to destroy key Russian military infrastructure.
‘Our Ukrainian drones work exactly as they should, but unfortunately, there are things that cannot be done with drones alone,’ the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address.
‘We need other weapons – missiles… long-range decisions for Ukraine. This must be done.
‘The bolder our partners’ decisions, the less Putin will be able to do about it.’
Newest NATO member Sweden declared this morning that Ukraine has the right to defend itself both inside and outside its territory, with Kyiv’s Western allies seemingly supportive of the incursion in Kursk.
But approving the use of long-range missiles on Russian soil would signify a major shift from US and European governments who have thus far provided weaponry to Kyiv on the proviso they are not used for offensive strikes in Russia.
Vladimir Putin and top-ranking Russian officials have trumpeted incessantly that they would consider any Western country to have directly entered the conflict should its weapons be used to attack Russian land, sparking fears that such a move could trigger the descent into World War III.
However, Taras Kuzio, a professor of political science at the National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, posited that the assault on Kursk has shown that the fear of crossing Russian ‘red lines’ that could lead to nuclear escalation ‘is a myth’.
Emboldened by the stunning offensive of his armed forces into Russia’s Kursk region, the Ukrainian President is seizing the opportunity to hammer home his advantage
A handout still image taken from handout video provided on 14 August 2024 by the Russian Defence Ministry press-service shows Russian servicemen fire Russian Giatsint-S self-propelled gun towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location
A Ukrainian armoured military vehicle travels past a burned car near the Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024
Russian troops are seen digging defensive trenches some 50 miles from the border in anticipation of the Ukrainian advance
Ukrainian servicemen operate an armoured military vehicle on a road near the border with Russia, in the Sumy region of Ukraine, on August 14, 2024
‘Our Ukrainian drones work exactly as they should, but unfortunately there are things that cannot be done with drones alone,’ the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address. ‘We need other weapons – missiles… long-range decisions for Ukraine. This must be done.’
Russian President Vladimir Putin is pictured at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, August 14, 2024
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Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk appeared to have stalled somewhat earlier this week, with Russian commanders scrambling to pile fresh units into the battle on the ground while bombing Ukrainian positions from the air with Su-34 jets.
But by Wednesday, Ukrainian officials claimed to have regained the initiative and claimed to have captured almost as much Russian land in Kursk as Russian forces took in Ukraine in the last seven months, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.
Kyiv claims its troops are now controlling at least 74 settlements, including the strategic town of Sudzha, and have advanced almost 30 miles into some parts of Kursk.
Hundreds of Russian prisoners have also been captured, blindfolded and ferried away in trucks.
Kyiv could use those men to bargain for the return of hundreds of imprisoned Ukrainians in future prisoner exchanges, with Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets declaring yesterday that his Russian counterpart, Tatyana Moskalkova, had initiated a conversation about that very subject – the first time such a request has come from Moscow.
Images from the battlefield showing columns of destroyed Russian weaponry are reminiscent of Ukraine’s successful counteroffensives in 2022 in Kherson and Kharkiv.
The photos also offer a sorely needed boost to national morale that deflated after the failed 2023 summer counteroffensive and months of recent territorial losses in the east.
Ukrainian servicemen drive a Humvee military vehicle past a destroyed border crossing point with Russia, in the Sumy region, on August 14, 2024
Ukrainian servicemen operate a tank on a road near the border with Russia, in the Sumy region of Ukraine, on August 14, 2024
A Ukrainian military vehicle drives past a burning car on a road near the border with Russia, in the Sumy region of Ukraine, on August 14, 2024
Ukrainian servicemen drive an armoured military vehicle past a destroyed border crossing point with Russia, in the Sumy region, on August 14, 2024
Evacuated people queue to fill out the form for humanitarian aid at a distribution centre in Kursk on Wednesday
Matthew Savill, the Director of Military Sciences at the RUSI think tank, told there could be as many as 10,000 Ukrainian troops now in Russia, with upper estimates from other sources putting the figure as high as 12,000.
‘There’s evidence of Ukrainian forces from at least four different brigades – 22nd and 88th Mechanised and 80th and 82nd Air Assault, and possibly more – now involved in the offensive in Kursk.
‘These brigades are using Western-provided equipment like infantry fighting vehicles as well as Soviet-era tanks.
‘It’s hard to judge numbers, but it might be enough for around a division – perhaps 10,000 – given the spread of fighting now underway.
‘But we should be very cautious about determining exact size, because units are being rotated, and the presence of elements doesn’t tell us the whole unit has been deployed.
‘That ambiguity suits the Ukrainians.’
Kyiv was forced to pull some troops from the hottest parts of the front line in eastern Ukraine in order to launch the Kursk offensive, raising fears that key battles along the frontline could be lost.
Ukrainian commanders have said they hope the incursion will also force Russia to do the same, or at the very least deploy reserves that were intended to bolster attacks at other parts of the 620-mile front line.
So far, Moscow’s focus in the Donetsk region seemingly remains unchanged, with fighters in Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson reporting that Russian forces had if anything upped the intensity of their attacks.
‘There is no way Russia will stop its actions in the parts of the front line where they are tactically succeeding,’ Ukrainian military expert Konstantin Mashovets said.
‘There, they will push and squeeze until their last man is standing, no matter what.’
But he said the push into Kursk might force the Kremlin to pull reserves ‘from the parts of the front line that are of secondary importance.’
‘The stretching of the front line for us is also stretching the front line for the enemy,’ said the commander of the 14th Regiment of Unmanned Drones, who uses the call sign Charlie, after he participated in the opening stage of the offensive.
‘Only we have prepared for this operation in detail. The Russians were not prepared for this operation at all.’
A Ukrainian soldier stands guard as he surveys a line of Russian POWs taken in Kursk
Ukrainian servicemen drive an armoured military vehicle past destroyed border crossing point with Russia, in the Sumy region, on August 14, 2024
A Ukrainian military vehicle driving past a destroyed border crossing point with Russia
This photograph shows bombs lying in the area of a destroyed border crossing point with Russia, in the Sumy region, on August 14, 2024
Politically, the incursion turned the tables on Russia and reset the terms of a conflict in which Ukraine increasingly seemed doomed to accept unfavourable cease-fire terms.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak suggested that the incursion would strengthen Kyiv’s hand in future negotiations with Russia, as occupying part of Russian territory ahead of any cease-fire talks may give Ukraine some leverage.
Ukrainian officials have said they do not intend to occupy Kursk, but they may seek to create a buffer zone to protect settlements in the bordering Sumy region from relentless Russian artillery attacks and to block supply lines to the northeast.
A Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters in Kyiv earlier this week: ‘The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace, the sooner Ukrainian raids on Russian territory will stop.’
But he caveated that statement by saying: ‘As long as Putin continues the war, he will receive such responses from Ukraine.’
Kyiv’s troops are already digging trenches in Kursk, suggesting they intend to remain there for some time.