Trump urges ceasefire negotiations, Ukraine uses Kursk as a means of pressure

Trump urges ceasefire negotiations, Ukraine uses Kursk as a means of pressure

The Ukraine has new attacks in Russia's kursk-region US President Donald Trump urges ceasefire negotiations.

Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk region

The Institute for the Study of War, a conflict monitor based in the United States, reported that the Ukrainian armed forces started a new series of attacks in the Kursk region on Thursday, with up to five kilometers behind the Russian lines southeast of Sudzha. It is unclear whether the attacks aim to conquer more terrain or to strengthen Ukraine defense positions. Analyst Angelica Evans said that progress to this extent was impressive.

expectations of negotiations

"to see that the Ukrainians are able to penetrate the Russian defendings and move up to five kilometers is something that we do not see on the front line of the Russians," she said in an interview with CNN. Kiev himself surprises his allies with the attacks on the Russian territory and continues to fight in Kursk, although it is faced with extremely difficult situations on other fronts.

strategic importance of attacks

Russia claimed on Friday that Toretsk, an industrial city in eastern Ukraine, claimed that has been one of the epicenters of the fight for six months. Ukraine has not commented on this claim, but confirmation would be a further strategic profit for Moscow, since Russian troops would be closer to important Ukrainian defense positions. At the same time, Russian troops started to go towards Pokrovsk and kupians To move north.

resource expenditure and strategic considerations

Some in Ukraine, including the troops fighting in Cursk, question why Kiev invests precious resources in Russia while difficulties defending their own territory. The answer should be in the expectation that Trump may soon put pressure on Ukraine to reconcile discussions with Russia. "There is nothing that makes the soil actually kept in great value by the Ukrainians. They are fields and settlements that do not pose a threat to the city of Kursk or an attack on Moscow," says Evans.

long -term prospects and diplomatic importance

The military and political executives of Ukraine have repeatedly stated that the operation in Kursk aimed to prevent a new Russian offensive in the north of Ukraine and force Moscow to reverse some of his troops from other fronts. The move is the greatest strategic gain in Ukraine since the liberation of Cherson in November 2022 and gave the country an enormous moral boost.

This week, while Trump continues to negotiate, Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj made it clear that Kiev Kursk sees a potential trial. In a speech on Wednesday, he described the advance as "a very important operation" and noted: "You will later see what conditions the Russians have to meet with regard to the course in the course of a diplomatic setting."

Selenskyj's clear message

Trump has made it clear that he wants the talks between Russia and Ukraine to start "as soon as possible". He emphasized that his government has direct contact with both Russia and Ukraine and said: "We have made a lot of progress in relation to Russia and Ukraine. We will see what happens. We will end this absurd war."

military losses in Kursk

There have been six months now since Kiev started his surprising advance into the Kursk region. While Russia was able to regain more than half of the area originally occupied by Kiev, this happened at a high price. The Ukrainian General Staff reported on Thursday that Russia has lost 40,000 soldiers in the past six months, of which 16,100 have fallen.

international support for Ukraine

"Ukrainian armed forces captured 909 Russian soldiers, which significantly refilled the exchange fund. This enabled hundreds of Ukrainian defenders who were in Russian prisoners to return home," added the general staff. For the first time since World War II, this advance marked that foreign troops received control over Russian territory - a large embarrassment for Russian President Vladimir Putin, which has essentially presented Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a means of “defending” the country.

FAZIT

Ukrainian military leadership estimates that Russia has used around 78,000 soldiers in Kursk, in many cases more than the Ukrainian forces. Despite this numerical advantage, the Russian military was difficult to drive the Ukrainians out of their territory, which meant that Moscow finally requested foreign reinforcements and sent around 12,000 North Korean soldiers to the Kursk region. This made Putin the first Russian leader to fall back on foreign troops to recapture Russian soil.