Zelenskyy Says Kursk Offensive Brings Ukraine Closer to Peace

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Facts

  • Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while commenting on his country's ongoing operations in Russia's Kursk region, on Sunday said that the objectives were to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and create a buffer zone.[1]
  • 'Everything that inflicts losses on the Russian army, Russian state, their military-industrial complex, and their economy helps prevent the war from expanding and brings us closer to a just end to this aggression — a just peace for Ukraine,' Zelenskyy said.[1]
  • The remarks reiterate the point made by Zelenskyy's advisor Mykhailo Podolyak in public comments last week — highlighting Ukraine's motivation for launching the Kursk offensive — stating that the incursion was designed to persuade Moscow to enter into what he described as 'fair' peace talks.[2]
  • The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) — a US military think tank that tracks troop positions in the conflict — reported Sunday that Ukrainian forces appear to have made additional gains in the Kursk region over the past day, namely in the settlements of Martynovka and Semenovka near the town of Sudzha.[3]
  • Meanwhile, over the past day, Russia's defense ministry and Russian military bloggers reported a number of Russian gains in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, namely near Pokrovsk, Toretsk, and Donetsk City. ISW said it had not seen visual confirmations of these advances — though it did confirm a Russian advance in the Luhansk region near Kreminna.[3]
  • Last week, ISW reported that Russia's defense ministry appeared to prioritize its offensive in Ukraine's east over the defense of Kursk.[4]

Sources: [1]President, [2]Guardian, [3]Understandingwar and [4]Verity.

Narratives

  • Pro-Ukraine narrative, as provided by President. The aim of Ukraine's Kursk offensive is to inflict maximum damage to Russian manpower and equipment. Only then will Russia see that fighting this war is unsustainable, ushering in a just end to the conflict.
  • Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. Ukraine believes that grabbing Russian territory will force Moscow to accept an end to the conflict on Zelenskyy's terms. As the next few months will demonstrate, that is not how things are going to go.

Predictions