Bethany Elliott
“Russia does not control the border,” said Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the Centre for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, on Tuesday. “Russian soldiers are lying about the controllability of the situation in the Kursk region”, he claimed.
This startling announcement came in response to one of the largest incursions into Russian territory of the war so far. The Russian Ministry of Defence reported that up to 300 Ukrainian troops this week attacked Moscow’s positions near Nikolaevo-Darino and Oleshnya in the Kursk region of Russia. While the MoD was emphatic that the situation on the border was “not critical” and the Ukrainians had been “repelled” — additionally refuting reports circulating on Ukrainian Telegram channels that Russia’s troops had abandoned their positions — it yesterday admitted that fighting is ongoing. Other reports indicate that Moscow lost two combat helicopters in the surprise raid, while prominent Russian military blogger Rybar claimed that Ukraine had captured Nikolaevo-Darino, taken two other settlements and almost surrounded Russian troops in Oleshnya.
In terms of how this serves Kyiv in the broader war, perhaps the most significant effect will be psychological. The attack is, in every sense of the word, striking. Seeing Russian President Vladimir Putin forced to publicly address the incident and refer to it as a “major provocation” demonstrates that Kyiv’s forces are still capable of taking not only the initiative but also of taking Moscow by surprise. This will provide a much-needed morale boost to Kyiv’s weary forces and to its — also weary — allies, both desperate for any signs that Kyiv can still succeed on the battlefield.
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