On the 12th, a week after the Ukrainian military entered the Russian mainland, the Ukrainian military claimed to have taken control of about 1,000㎢ (about 1.65 times the size of Seoul) in the Kursk region in southern Russia. A scene of Ukrainian troops raising their national flag in the region was also released. Russian President Vladimir Putin called a third security-related meeting since the Ukrainian military attack, and the Russian military airstrikes an energy facility in Sumy, Ukraine, which borders Kursk.
According to Reuters on the 12th, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Sirsky said at a staff meeting that day, “We are continuing offensive operations in the Kursk region. We are currently controlling about 1,000 square kilometers of Russian Federation territory.” In a speech that day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “Since June 1 of this year, Russian troops have attacked the Sumy region, which borders the Kursk region, almost 2,100 times,” and “Russia brought war to other countries, and now it is being returned to its own country.”
He also mentioned the Kursk submarine disaster that occurred on the same day 24 years ago, August 12, 2000. The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, named after the Russian region where Ukrainian forces are currently advancing, sank in the Barents Sea in northern Russia at the time, killing all 118 crew members. President Zelensky said, “24 years ago, at the beginning of Putin’s rule, there was the Kursk disaster, and now we are witnessing another disaster that seems to be the final chapter of Putin’s rule.” It was a reminder of the past that could provoke President Putin.
President Zelensky has also asked the West, which provides him with weapons, to allow him to strike deep into Russia with long-range missiles. According to Newsweek, Ukrainian troops are reportedly building a defensive line by digging trenches in Kursk Oblast, with the intention of continuing to occupy Russian territory and exchanging it for Russian-occupied Ukrainian lands during future ceasefire negotiations.
In a meeting that was broadcast on video by the Russian state-run RIA Novosti news agency and others, President Putin said, “The main task is to drive the enemy out of our territory and ensure stable border security.” This is the third security-related meeting, following the first meeting on the 7th, the day after the attack on Ukraine began, and the last meeting on the 9th.
Putin also showed a sharp expression during the meeting. According to Bloomberg, when the acting governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, explained that Ukrainian troops had advanced 12 kilometers into Russian territory and were controlling 28 villages, Putin interrupted him and said, “That’s for the military to decide.” The BBC reported that “this is a rare scene in Russian state media, and shows the scale of the damage Russia is suffering.”
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said, “Russia attacked energy facilities, including the Sumyri power grid, with missiles and drones during the night, and Ukraine shot down dozens of the drones.” This attack is interpreted as being aimed at countering Ukraine’s ground war.
Paris = Correspondent Jo Eun-ah [email protected]
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2024-08-14 02:59:39