Ukrainian forces attacked the Kursk region on August 6, capturing dozens of towns and hundreds of square kilometers. The offensive caught the Russian army by surprise as it slowly advanced further south into Ukraine’s Donbass region. Kiev gave various reasons for its assault, given that Russia occupies nearly 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, including forcing Moscow to withdraw troops from other parts of the front, or creating a “buffer zone” to stop shelling in Ukrainian border territories.
But kyiv also wants to use the conquered Russian territories as a bargaining chip in possible negotiations with the Kremlin. “The military tool is used objectively to persuade Russia to enter into a fair negotiation process,” Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on X on Friday, August 16.
While he reiterated that kyiv had no intention of “occupying” any part of Russian territory, he also noted that in the event of “potential” negotiations, a way had to be found to get Russia to sit “on the other side of the table.” On Tuesday, a Ukrainian diplomat had already called on Moscow to accept “a just peace,” with kyiv demanding the withdrawal of the Russian army from its internationally recognized territory.
“We left everything”
However, negotiations between the two sides have been completely blocked since spring 2022, with Moscow continuing to demand that Ukraine accept the annexation of part of its territory. Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wants to develop by November, the date of the presidential election in the United States – a vital ally of kyiv – a plan that would serve as the basis for a future peace summit to which the Kremlin must be invited.
He repeats that peace can only be possible if the Russian army withdraws completely, including from the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. As for Vladimir Putin, he demands that kyiv cede the Ukrainian regions it claims to annex and renounce joining NATO. These demands are unacceptable to Ukrainians and Westerners, who have never stopped calling for respect for international law.
After ten days of advancing on Russian soil, Ukraine claims to have taken control of 1,150 km² and 82 localities. On the other side, the Russian army claims to have deployed reinforcements. kyiv says it has seized in particular the town of Soudja, located 10 kilometers from the border and where there is a major gas hub of the Russian giant Gazprom, which supplies Europe via Ukraine.
At least 12 civilians have been killed and more than 120 injured since the start of the Ukrainian operation, according to a report from the Russian authorities, provided at the beginning of the week. In the city of Kursk, several dozen kilometers from the fighting, several dozen people, of all ages, were gathered Thursday in a temporary accommodation center after having hastily left their homes.
“We don’t know what to do. We cry day and night,” Zinaida Tarassiouk, a 70-year-old retiree, told AFP. “We left everything behind.” “When we wanted to leave, our tanks were destroyed, on fire,” said Inna Pereverzeva, 50. The evacuations are taking place as fighting continues in the area. During one of them, two Russian aid workers were killed in a Ukrainian strike on Friday, according to their organization.