|
|
Post by Admin on Aug 8, 2024 2:24:26 GMT
The White House was contacting Ukraine to learn the “objectives” of a major incursion across the border into Russia, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said on Wednesday. Washington supported “common sense” actions by Ukraine to stop attacks by Russian forces, Jean-Pierre added. “We’re going to reach out to the Ukrainian military to learn more about their objectives.
Vladimir Putin described it as a “large-scale provocation” as Ukrainian officials remained silent about the scope of the operation. Matthew Miller, US state department spokesperson, dismissed Moscow’s condemnations. “I have seen the statements from the Russian government. It is a little bit rich, them calling it a provocation, given Russia violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s defence and security editor, writes that the operation appears to be an attack by Ukraine’s military rather than the Ukrainian-based Russian opposition groups that have conducted past raids.
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Aug 8, 2024 12:21:28 GMT
LONDON -- Ukraine has continued its major incursion into Russia’s Kursk region for a third day, with Russia still clearly not in control and Ukrainian troops appearing still to be moving deeper into Russia.
The attack appeared to be a large-scale offensive operation, involving at least two Ukrainian brigades, rather than a less significant cross-border raid. As scale of the attack was on Thursday becoming clearer, it appeared to be one of the most significant military developments in the war in months.
An Ukrainian adviser to the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, Mykhailo Podolyak, commented Thursday for the first time on the operation, saying one goal was to alter the Russian perception of the war, a shift that could potentially affect any eventual negotiations.
"This increases the cost of the war for Russia quantitatively. More armored vehicles have been destroyed, the Russian Federation has lost territories, and there have been more casualties. Will this affect how they perceive this war? Undoubtedly,” Podolyak said in a live discussion on Ukrainian TV.
The Ukrainian incursion began on Tuesday when a Ukrainian force numbering in at least the hundreds crossed over the border near the village of Sudzha, with tanks and heavy weapons, according to official and unofficial Russian public sources. Catching Russia off-guard, Ukrainian soldiers quickly seized a handful of villages, advancing up to 10 to 15 km, according to the pro-Kremlin Russian military bloggers.
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Aug 8, 2024 22:31:53 GMT
Three days into Ukraine’s cross-border attack on Russia's Kursk region, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Moscow must "feel" the consequences for its invasion of Ukraine.
"Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done”, Mr Zelensky said in his Thursday evening address, without directly referencing the Ukrainian offensive.
"Ukrainians know how to achieve their goals. And we did not choose to achieve our goals in the war," he added.
Russia says at least 1,000 Ukrainian troops, supported by tanks and armoured vehicles, entered its territory on Tuesday morning - in what appears to be one of the largest assaults on Russian soil since the war began.
Ukrainian officials have been largely silent on the offensive. The exact situation on the ground is hard to determine, with few specific details released by either side.
“Everyone can see that the Ukrainian army knows how to surprise [and] achieve results," the Ukrainian president said earlier on Thursday, without directly referencing the assault.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was monitoring Kursk’s nuclear plant, according to state-owned Russian news agency RIA-Novosti.
Russia's defence ministry said on Thursday that its troops were "continuing to destroy" armed Ukrainian units with air strikes, rockets and artillery fire.
The ministry said Russian reserves had been rushed to the region.
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Aug 9, 2024 15:34:43 GMT
According to Russian media, the Ukrainian military's cross-border attack on Kursk oblast left six people dead and 66 injured.
Thousands of people living near the border have been forced to evacuate, and Russian authorities have declared a federal state of emergency and are busy responding.
It appears that the fighting is continuing on the 9th, the fourth day since the attack, and this is an unusual development in which the Russian army is still unable to repel the Ukrainian army from its own territory.
The Russian military is sending additional troops to the area, but there is information that they have been ambushed by the Ukrainian military who have taken control of the village, so they may be facing a difficult situation.
On the 8th, the US Washington Post reported that an adviser to Ukrainian President Zelenskiy had asked the US for permission to use ATACMS long-range missiles in order to retain part of Kursk Oblast.
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Aug 9, 2024 23:28:20 GMT
|
|
