Discussing Ukraine’s surprise military incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast on August 6. The move marked a two-and-a-half-year taboo on military operations on Russian soil and has sent shockwaves across the international community.

Suggests several possible objectives behind Ukraine’s invasion, including:

1. Reducing Russian military pressure: By attacking across the lightly defended border and seizing Russian territory, Ukrainian commanders aim to force the Kremlin to withdraw troops from the front lines of the war in Ukraine in order to redeploy them for the defense of Russia itself.

2. Regaining the military initiative: Ukraine believes that a war of mobility and maneuver is their best chance of military success against the larger and wealthier Russian Federation. The invasion of Kursk Oblast has achieved this by allowing Ukrainian commanders to exploit the Russian army’s slow decision-making processes.

3. Psychological impact and morale boost: The Ukrainian army’s advances in Kursk Oblast have spread panic throughout the surrounding region, undermining Putin’s efforts to prevent the invasion of Ukraine from disrupting the daily lives of ordinary Russians.

4. Preparing for a future peace process: The Kursk offensive may be part of Ukraine’s preparations for a future peace process, with Kyiv looking to occupy as much Russian territory as possible to use as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Kremlin.

Russian response and Western reaction

Highlights the Russian government’s cautious and muted response to the invasion, with Putin downplaying the situation and referring to it as a “large-scale provocation.”

However, there are indications that attitudes among Ukraine’s Western allies may be changing, with the EU and Germany acknowledging Ukraine’s right to self-defense, including inside Russia. US officials have also signaled their approval, stating that Ukraine is doing what it needs to do to be successful on the battlefield.

Call to action for the West

This concludes by underlining the need for the West to provide Ukraine with the necessary military aid to defend itself and ultimately defeat Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for the lifting of all Western restrictions on long-range strikes against military targets in Russia.

This argues that Ukraine has consistently shown that whenever Putin is confronted with the prospect of defeat, he is far more likely to retreat than escalate. Therefore, there are no more excuses for restricting Kyiv’s ability to defend itself or denying Ukraine the weapons it needs to win the war.

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