The unprecedented assault entered its fourth day Friday with Moscow rushing reinforcements and bombing its own territory to try and contain the Ukrainian advance.
The unprecedented assault entered its fourth day Friday with Moscow rushing reinforcements and bombing its own territory to try and contain the Ukrainian advance.
A convoy of burnt-out military trucks, some bearing the ‘Z’ symbol of the Kremlin’s war and appearing to contain bodies, sits along the side of a highway.
The video, circulating on social media Friday and geolocated by NBC News, doesn’t show a beleaguered section of the front lines in eastern Ukraine. It is a village in Kursk, across the border in southern Russia.
For days now Vladimir Putin’s forces have struggled to put down an incursion into Russian territory by Ukrainian troops, after a surprise attack that threatened to upend the war’s status quo and open a new front in a daring challenge to the Kremlin.
The most rational 2023 summer offensive would have been a plunge into russia near volokanovka and turning hard right to enfilade their invasion, while blocking any forces attacking from the direction of moscow. It was so obvious I didn’t want to say it in case it had been missed by the defense. I can only assume a very frustrated ukraine was told they wouldn’t get their aid if they did it.
They could have done that but they wouldn’t have been able to use NATO supplied weapons. Only recently have they been lifting some of those restrictions. They could have bypassed all the Russian defenses had they done that
I'd definitely recommend watching Anders analysis if you haven't taken a look. Seems like a risky but potentially fantastic move from Ukraine depending on what exactly their objectives are.
Will be watching closely, looks like it's going to be an interesting few days to see Russia scramble to get the egg off their face with this at the very least.
Seems like that's probably part of it. It could also be a response to the Russian offensives slowing down. Ukraine's strategy so far seems to have been to stay on the defensive, preserve troops and bleed the Russian forces as much as possible as they advance. If Russia stops advancing, this strategy no longer works. Now that Ukraine has taken a seemingly significant area inside Russia itself, it means Russia is forced to keep playing an offensive role to bring this territory back under Russian control and Ukraine can continue with their strategy.
I'm no military analyst and I'm mostly just paraphrasing what Anders said but it seems reasonable. They seem to be playing their cards pretty close to the chest right now though as to what their actual objective is.