There are of course Russian soldiers on the ground in Kursk as well. But they are far from numerous enough or well enough trained to be able to drive Ukrainian forces back across the border in the south. Russian media reports on individual incidents where their forces have managed to prevent Ukrainian advances. Furthermore, relief operations in support of the evacuated civilian population receive a lot of attention. On Thursday, the county’s acting governor announced that mobile shelters are being built in three major cities. A Ukrainian woman is evacuated from Selydove near the city of Pokrovsk on August 22. Russian forces have moved about 15 kilometers closer to Pokrovsk during the summer. Photo: Thomas Peter / Reuters The message is clear. The Russian locals in Kursk must prepare for Ukrainian soldiers to stay for a while. The situation around Kursk and Putin’s political line can be summarized in five points. Putin downplays the seriousness As so often during crises, Putin has said remarkably little. He avoids the word “invasion” about the march of Ukrainian soldiers on August 6. He still does not use the word “war”. Instead, it describes Ukraine’s occupation of parts of Kursk Oblast as a terrorist act. In Putin’s parlance, Russia’s response is therefore an “anti-terrorist operation”. On Thursday, the president had a video conference with Russian politicians and the governors of the three border counties of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk. Then he blamed others for the failure to defend Russian territory. The problems in Kursk are “the responsibility of the security forces,” the president said. According to Ukraine’s president, their soldiers now control 1,250 square kilometers and 92 towns on the Russian side of the border. Residents of the Kursk region in front of an apartment block which, according to local Russian authorities, was hit by debris from a destroyed Ukrainian missile. The picture is from 11 August. Photo: Anatoliy Zhdanov / Reuters The front goes far away from the provincial capital, which is also called Kursk. But instead of going there, President Putin has visited Azerbaijan and Chechnya this week. The president wants to show that he cares about civilians Putin has nevertheless shown concern. In the video conference with the border counties, he was keen to hear about the situation for the evacuated civilian population. The governor of Kursk, Aleksej Smirnov, could say that 133,900 civilians from eight districts have been evacuated. He proposed to more than double the cash allowance, to 25,000 rubles per person. It is just under NOK 3,000. – Completely agree, Putin said and added that they must also get security for the properties they have left. A large part of the video conference was shown on state TV channels. Russian television has had wide coverage of how civilians are being helped. Putin often holds such video meetings from his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo on the outskirts of Moscow. The picture is from the meeting about Kursk on 22 August. Photo: GAVRIIL GRIGOROV / AFP Yesterday there was also the announcement that mobile concrete shelters will be built, among other things in the provincial capital. But Ukrainian forces are nowhere near the city of Kursk, and it is unlikely that they will attempt to take a city with close to half a million inhabitants. The move therefore appears mostly as a measure to calm a shocked population. Ukraine front most important Russia’s leadership has decided not to move larger forces from the front sections in Donbas to Kursk Oblast. This is written by the website Bloomberg based on sources “close to the Kremlin”. During the summer, Russian forces approached the strategically important town of Pokrovsk in the west of Donetsk county. Russian TV has extensive coverage of the offensive. It is portrayed as if it is inevitable that Ukraine will lose the battle for the city. The state TV channels have daily broad coverage from the battlefield in Ukraine. The reports from the Kursk battlefield are very modest in comparison. Ukrainian rescue workers try to push away a wrecked car after a Russian rocket attack on a supermarket in Kostjantynivka, Donetsk. Such images are not shown in the Russian media. It says that Russia does not attack civilian targets. Taken on August 9. Photo: Iryna Rybakova / AP The Russians just have to accept that for the time being it is more important for the Kremlin to win battles in Ukraine than to drive the Ukrainians out of Kursk. After two and a half years of large-scale war, Putin’s soldiers do not control any of the four counties written into the constitution as part of Russia. Defense Minister Andrej Belousov admitted earlier this week that new units will be formed named after the border counties of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk. But it is neither clear where the soldiers will be taken from nor how large the forces will be. In the first days after the Ukrainian invasion, Russian conscripts were used in the defense. Several hundred were taken as prisoners of war and taken to Ukrainian prisons. The photo shows a group of Russian prisoners of war who were taken when Ukrainian forces moved into Kursk. The photo is distributed by the press service of Ukrainian security forces. Taken on August 14 in Kursk. Photo: AP The Washington Post was among those who got to meet the prisoners. Putin promised in March 2022 that conscripts would not be sent into combat. The promise was broken, and the families of the conscripts began collecting signatures demanding the exchange of prisoners of war. Protests are suppressed – No one will die who is not predestined to die. But if you die to defend Russia and your God, then you will go to heaven. Commander Apty Alaudinov of the Akhmat battalion of Chechen special forces responded. Putin has not commented on the petition or the conscripted prisoners of war. The Netherlands-based online newspaper The Moscow Times has visited the Ukrainian-controlled areas in Kursk. People there feel forgotten by the leadership in the Kremlin. Many say they do not understand that Russian intelligence did not pick up on the Ukrainian plans. A Russian attack helicopter fires a rocket at Ukrainian forces in the border area of Kursk Oblast. August 21. Such images are spread by the Russian Ministry of Defense to show that they are really doing something to defend their own territory. Photo: HANDOUT / AFP But even among Russians who are usually very loyal to the regime, there is now direct and indirect criticism. -If there are more such blunders, we could lose the war, warned film director Karen Shakhnazarov during a talk show on the TV channel Rossiya 1. Another commentator loyal to the regime, Maksim Jusin, said in a talk show on the NTV channel that the occupation and subsequent evacuation could lead to that the areas “will have to be sacrificed”. The elites’ trust is weakening There is no major public debate about what is happening in Kursk. But once again, President Putin has appeared unprepared and absent in connection with a major crisis. Many Russians far from the front probably don’t really care about that. But Russian elites follow suit. The oligarchs and the very rich Russians have already lost much of the position they once held. Putin on his way into the great banqueting hall in the Kremlin to be sworn in as president for the fifth time. From 7 May this year. According to the constitution, he can stand for election again in 2030. Then he can sit until 2036. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP But people associated with intelligence, security police and defense know that Putin has a thing for blaming others and victimizing them without blinking an eye. With all that implies of power struggles before and after. It will happen again. But the boss does not depend on great confidence, as long as he can continue to play on the fear of being the next victim. Published 23.08.2024, at 23.06
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Prioritizing victories in Ukraine ahead of Kursk – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
