LONDON, August 15. /TASS/. An attack on the Kursk Region will not be able to help Ukraine turn the tide of the conflict in the special military zone and regain the lost territories, former Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs Bruno Macaes (in office 2013-2015) told the New Statesman.

According to him, in the first half of last year, Ukraine and its allies believed that a counteroffensive to regain lost territories would lead to a turning point in the conflict with Russia, but it never happened. Macaes pointed out that the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the Kursk Region is inevitable, also because it will be very difficult for the Ukrainian authorities to justify to their citizens the price they will have to pay for continuing this operation.

The Ukrainian armed forces attacked Russia’s Kursk Region on August 6. The attack killed 12 civilians and wounded 121 people, including 10 children. A total of 69 injured are in hospitals; the condition of 17 of them is assessed as serious. More than 120,000 people left or were evacuated from the border districts of Kursk Region.

According to the Defense Ministry, Kiev has lost up to 2,640 servicemen, at least 37 tanks and more than 32 armored personnel carriers since the beginning of hostilities in the Kursk area. The operation to destroy the Ukrainian armed formations continues.