MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/. Ukraine expected its army to enter the Russian city of Kursk so that it could start bargaining for a peace agreement, Major General Apty Alaudinov, deputy chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ Main Military-Political Department and commander of the Akhmat special forces commando unit, said.

"[The Ukrainian army planned] to seize as much land as possible, even entering the city of Kursk, and after that, start bargaining," Alaudinov said in an interview with Soloviev Live television, an excerpt of which was posted on his Telegram channel. Ukrainian President Vladimir "Zelensky decided to carry out such an attack no matter what, hoping that it would make us accept a peace deal on his conditions," he added.

Alaudinov noted that the attack involved all that the Ukrainian army "could gather," including tanks and armored vehicles.