Ukraine’s unexpected advance in Russia’s “Kursk”; What is the purpose behind the curtain?

Mehr News Agency, International Group: After nearly 2 and a half years have passed since the beginning of the Russian war And Ukraine, political and military experts do not see an end to this crisis, especially after the surprise attack of the Ukrainian army two weeks ago on the Kursk region in western Russia, the possibility of an escalation of tension has increased.

Kiev was able to control 82 towns in an area of ​​1,150 square kilometers with its recent attack on Kursk on August 6. take in hand According to the latest reports, more than 121,000 people have left or been evacuated from this area, and according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Kiev has lost more than 3,800 troops in these attacks.

Ukraine has adopted the policy of destroying bridges at this stage of the war; The same successful tactic of the Soviets in the world wars that caused the defeat of the enemies. The Ukrainian army has used this same war tactic in the last two weeks. So far, they have destroyed three key bridges and have claimed that the destruction of these bridges will disrupt Russia’s supply routes.

Moscow confirmed on Monday, August 19 (29 August) that Ukraine destroyed the third bridge on the Sim river in the Kursk region of Russia in its attack the previous day. has done Some military analysts are of the opinion that Russia has used the three bridges installed on the Sim River to supply the forces it needs in the conflict zone; An action that could indicate the intention of the leaders of Kiev to strengthen their forces. Of course, some Russian sources have also confirmed that the destruction of the bridge over the “Sim” river near the city of “Glushko” has caused a disruption in the delivery of equipment to the Russian forces.

From the green light to the flood of American and NATO weapons to Ukraine

A few days ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said about Ukraine’s invasion of the Kursk region of Russia, that “if America had not ordered Zelensky, he would never have decided He would not do this.” The West, centered on the United States, while fanning the fire of the Ukraine crisis, has always tried to create a balance in this battle, hoping that Russia, as their strongest rival, will be in a constant and exhausting challenge.

The United States has already announced many times that it will not allow Ukraine to use the weapons sent by the United States in any attack on Russian territory. “John Kirby”, the spokesman and coordinator of strategic communications of the White House National Security Council, said in a press conference after the start of Ukraine’s attack on Kursk, that Washington has not made any changes in its policy and that Ukraine continues to allow the use of American-made weapons to attack Russian territory. does not have.

Now, the field reality depicts the opposite of the White House officials’ claims. Moscow says Ukraine used Western weapons, including US-made Himars missiles, to destroy bridges, including the Sim River Bridge, in the Kursk region, killing volunteer forces trying to evacuate civilians. “Maria Zakharova”, the spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced in the Telegram messenger: “For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by rocket launchers made by the West and probably the American Himars.”

Scott Ritter, a former American intelligence officer and United Nations weapons inspector, says that he believes that Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Kursk region was carried out under the guidance of NATO. He emphasized: The fact is that Russia responded to Ukraine’s war crimes that have been going on since the 2014 “Maidan” coup in Kiev; And the force that advances (in Kursk) is the force that NATO built and paid for.

At this time, the first American F-16 fighters were also delivered to Ukraine. Telegram channel of Sputnik news website wrote on Thursday (August 18) that F-16 fighter jets were seen in the Kherson region of Ukraine, quoting Pavel Filipchuk, the mayor of Kakhovsky. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed the delivery of the long-awaited F-16 fighter jets earlier last week and announced that Ukrainian pilots have begun flying the US-made fighter jets for operations inside the country. The president of Ukraine continued: “We are waiting for more F-16s, and many of our friends are now training [on how to work with these American-made fighters].

In the meantime, Russia has accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine’s ground attack on Russian territory and has said that the “terrorist attack” of Kiev and the joining of fighters style=”background-color:#ffffff”> F-16 to the Ukrainian Air Force will not change the course of the war.

The behind-the-scenes goals of the West and Ukraine in occupying Kursk

Ukrainian officials including Zelensky have declared the main goal of Russia’s advance in Kursk to be the project of Ukraine’s “buffer zone” and say that they intend to dominate Russia’s border areas, the region create a barrier to prevent Russian attacks on the border areas of Ukraine. They have also claimed that they are creating humanitarian corridors in the areas under their control in the territory of Russia so that both humanitarian aid can reach Russian civilians and there is a channel for them to leave to Russia or Ukraine.

But from the point of view of observers, the goal is beyond these declaration positions. With this advance, they intend to dominate strategic cities and regions. For example, Ukrainian forces entered Sudzha a few hours after the start of the invasion on August 6. The city of Sudzha, which is approximately 10 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and has an estimated population of 5,500, is the administrative center of the Kursk region. Sudzha is a very important city from a strategic point of view. Russian natural gas, which is transported to Europe from the West Siberian gas fields through Ukraine, passes through a border measuring station in the Sudzha region.

Despite the 2.5-year war, the transfer of Russian gas to Europe has not been interrupted and continues; This allows the state-owned and giant Russian oil and gas company known as “Gazprom” of Russia to earn money from the sale of gas; Meanwhile, Ukraine also benefits from the gas transit right. Another goal of Ukraine from this advance is to bring Russia to the negotiating table of the second peace meeting of Ukraine. The first Ukrainian peace meeting hosted by Switzerland was held in June. The final statement of this meeting was issued while there was no concrete solution to achieve peace in the region.

Russia and China were absent in this meeting, which took place in the resort of “Burgenstock” in Switzerland. The talks in this meeting were organized around Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace plan that was presented at the end of 2022. After the failure of the Swiss conference on Ukraine without the presence of Russia, the president of Ukraine said on Monday that he expects Moscow to participate in the second conference, which is scheduled to be held in November; Meanwhile, the heads of the Kremlin have not yet welcomed the upcoming meeting.

It is likely that Ukraine intends to gain points from the occupation of Kursk in future negotiations, and in exchange for the return of this region, the four provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia that were previously were annexed to Russia. Zelsenki knows very well that if Trump wins the US presidential election in November, the flood of US and NATO aid to Kyiv will be cut off, and Washington’s attention will be focused on the Gaza crisis and all-out support for the Zionist regime; As a result, he considers the best option in this short time to be the occupation of a part of Russian territory with the aim of scoring points at the negotiating table.