Now in the sixth day of the Kursk invasion, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky explained the following on Sunday, breaking his silence and giving his first official confirmation of the daring cross-border ground operation, “Today, I received several reports from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyii regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the aggressor’s territory.” He added: “Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor.”
On the same day Russia’s Foreign Ministry has vowed, “A tough response from the Russian army will not be long in coming.” But that response appears to have already begun overnight and into Sunday, as the capital of Kiev has come under heavy missile attack. Missiles did not reach the center of the city, but the suburbs were impacted.
Zelensky has alleged that as part of the aerial assault, Russia used a North Korean ballistic missile. “According to preliminary information, the Russians used a North Korean missile in this attack – yet another deliberate terrorist strike against Ukraine,” Zelensky stated on social media. “Pyrotechnic experts are still working to determine the exact data regarding this missile,” he added.
The US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink has condemned the new Russian aerial assault, saying it killed a man and his four-year old boy.
Air alerts and explosions sounded all night around Kyiv as Russia launched multiple missile attacks, killing a man and his 4-year-old son. A terrible reminder that Russia has not stopped its illegal invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory and its bombing of peaceful civilians. pic.twitter.com/Sj782XuafZ
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) August 11, 2024
As has been the pattern after any major air assault by Russia, Zelensky pressed his Western allies for more immediate defense equipment to defend the skies. He urged that “to really stop Russian terror, we need not only a full-fledged air shield that will protect all our cities and communities, but also strong decisions from partners — decisions that will remove restrictions on our defensive actions.”
This reference to “strong decisions” is clearly an appeal for Western militaries to get more directly involved.
Some analysts view this ongoing Kursk cross-border offensive as a last-ditch and desperate ploy to force an escalation so that the US and NATO will more directly intervene, or else to gain leverage. Others say this is all PR-driven and that Ukrainian troops are being sacrificed in what’s essentially a suicide mission for propaganda purposes and as but a temporary blow to Kremlin morale…
As I said, Kursk attack is PR-driven decision by Zelensky: "Invading Russia is Zelensky’s riskiest decision yet. Crack troops are being used for a risky counterpunch to Putin that astonished the world — and the fingerprints of Ukraine’s president are all over it. President… pic.twitter.com/cFMfohUTVW
— Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) August 10, 2024
It also appears a distraction of sorts from the front lines, where Ukraine is fairing poorly and having serious manpower problems. It might be forcing Russia to relocate reservists from the Donbass region as well in order to urgently protect its borders.
