SYDNEY, August 29. /TASS/. The military operation in the Kursk Region has only postponed the inevitable capitulation of the Kiev regime on Russia's conditions, Australian international politics expert Tony Kevin told a TASS correspondent.
He believes that the Ukrainian armed forces' incursion intended to pull Russian troops away from the major Donbass frontline and put the Kremlin into panic mode, but that did not happen. "In this war of attrition, the Ukrainians have taken heavy losses of experienced soldiers transferred from the Donbass front which they can ill afford. Russia has not had to transfer forces to Kursk from the central Donbass front," the expert pointed out.
He noted that Kiev also failed to "create a good news information narrative of Ukraine taking the ‘fight to the enemy,’ after constant depressing news of the Ukrainian steady retreat on the central Donbass front."
He also dismissed as "fantasy" all hopes about "Ukrainians digging into its captured area for possibly months, essentially cordoned off and left relatively contained by Russian forces north of Suzhda." "Talk of a possible advance to the functioning Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, 50 km north of the frontier and somewhat closer to Suzhda, cannot be taken sufficiently seriously. <...> Meanwhile, during these three weeks since the incursion began, Russia has continued to gain ground and occupied more human settlements, with greater speed of advance, on the central Donbass front. This front is now moving forward several kilometers daily, and approaching the strategically located rail junction city of Povrovsk," Kevin stated.
The expert noted that Ukraine's actions in Kursk, which have been shrouded in controversy from the very beginning, are being increasingly criticized both by Kiev's Western allies and by the Ukrainians themselves.
"The Kursk incursion has, in this observer’s opinion, only delayed the inevitable: a negotiated surrender by the Kiev regime or whatever regime replaces it, under terms decided by Russia," Kevin concluded.
Ukraine’s massive attack on the Kursk Region began on August 6. A federal-scale state of emergency is in effect there and missile alerts have been announced repeatedly. Civilians are being evacuated from border areas to safety. According to the Emergencies Ministry, there are 197 temporary accommodation centers in 28 regions of Russia. More than 11,500 people, including more than 3,500 children, are staying there at the moment.
The Russian Defense Ministry says Kiev has lost more than 7,000 military personnel and 74 tanks since the beginning of hostilities in the Kursk Region. The operation to wipe out the Ukrainian incursion is continuing.