2024-08-19 01:23:27
Ukraine is advancing in Kursk – probably with Western weapons. Russian politicians are therefore talking about World War III.
Ukraine appears to be using Western weapons in its offensive in Kursk. This is reported by the British think tank Institute for the Study of War. British “Challenger 2” tanks were used in the attack on Kursk, among others.
However, when using Western weapons, Ukraine is “limited in its ability to attack military targets inside Russia,” the organization writes. According to Russian military bloggers, the Ukrainian military is making further progress in Kursk, albeit more slowly than before.
The Kremlin continues to have problems regaining control in the border region. The Russians are having difficulty establishing effective chains of command in and around Kursk, writes the Institute for the Study of War. The current structure is “complicated, overlapping and ineffective”. “This shows that Russia was not really prepared for the possibility of a Ukrainian attack.” The Kremlin apparently has “better coordinated control over the information space in Russia than over its military in Kursk”.
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Meanwhile, Russia is not only under pressure at the front in Kursk – criticism is also coming from within its own ranks. In the Kremlin-affiliated TV show “Treffpunkt”, one of the guests said that it might be necessary to “sacrifice” further border regions to Ukraine. “Evacuate them all, including the grandmothers,” said journalist Maxim Yusin.
In the same program, analyst Viktor Olevich expressed doubts about Russian superiority. One must think about how to win this conflict. Because the Ukrainians are obviously not suffering, despite reports to the contrary in Russia. “They are not in a death throes, that is obvious. They are on the rise.”
The extent to which the Kremlin is apparently under pressure is also evident in the reactions coming from those around the Moscow power center. Russian MP Mikhail Shermet, for example, claimed that the Ukrainian move was leading the world to the brink of a global war. Shermet is a member of the parliament’s defense committee and accuses the West of supporting Ukraine in its invasion of Kursk.
“Given the presence of Western military equipment, the use of Western ammunition and missiles in attacks on civilian infrastructure and the irrefutable evidence of foreign involvement in the attacks on Russian territory, one could conclude that the world is on the brink of World War III,” Shermet said, according to the Russian state news agency RIA.
He agrees with the assessment of President Vladimir Putin, who said that NATO countries had given Ukraine the green light to invade the Russian border region of Kursk on August 6. The US has denied this. Neither Putin nor Shermet have provided evidence for their claim.
The Russian president’s advisor, Nikolai Patrushev, also accuses NATO and the West of being involved in preparing the Ukrainian invasion. “The operation in the Kursk region was also planned with the participation of NATO and Western intelligence services,” Patrushev told the Russian newspaper Izvestia. The US statement that it was not involved in the attack was not true, said Patrushev. “Without their participation and direct support, Kiev would not have dared to enter Russian territory.” Patrushev also provides no evidence.