Ukrainian troops attacked deep into Russian territory, and a Russian state entered a "state of emergency"丨Foreign media observation
2024-08-12
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On the evening of August 7, the acting governor of Kursk Oblast in southern Russia announced that due to the difficult combat situation in the border area, Kursk Oblast will enter a state of emergency from that day on.
The day before, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that on the morning of the 6th, nearly 300 armed personnel of the 22nd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army, supported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armored vehicles, launched an attack on the border positions deployed by the Russian Army on the Russian-Ukrainian border in Kursk Oblast.
Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said that the purpose of the Ukrainian military's operation was to occupy Russian territory. However, Russian ground and air forces prevented the Ukrainian army from advancing in the direction of Kursk. In the operation, 100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, 215 were injured, and 54 armored equipment including 7 tanks were destroyed.
Russia's health authorities said the Ukrainian army's attack on Kursk Oblast has left 24 people injured, including six children.
According to multiple media reports, since the full-scale outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Ukraine has repeatedly attacked the Russian border states of Kursk (bordering Sumy Oblast, Ukraine) and Belgorod (bordering Kharkiv, Ukraine). However, those attacks were small-scale, and the attackers were either "volunteers" or armed forces organized by Russians who opposed the Russian government.
This time it was a relatively large-scale attack launched by the Ukrainian regular army, which was naturally a relatively big event.
There are also issues of concern surrounding this attack.
First of all, why did Ukraine launch this attack?
An analysis in the European version of the Politico website believes that the Ukrainian army's action this time is intended to attack the Russian army's supply lines.
Since May this year, Russia has launched an offensive against the Kharkiv Oblast in northeastern Ukraine. Putin said the purpose of the offensive was to establish a buffer zone to prevent Ukraine from attacking targets in Russia.
The supply lines and logistics of the Russian offensive were mainly concentrated in Kursk and Belgorod, so the purpose of Ukraine's action this time was to attack Russia's logistics lines and disrupt the Russian army's front-line deployment.
Second, Ukrainian officials remained silent.
After the attack, Russia's reaction was very intense. Russia's TASS reported that Putin called the Ukrainian attack another "large-scale provocation", Russian Ambassador to the United States Antonov also said it was a "terrorist attack" launched by Ukraine, and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it reflected "the failure and despair of the Ukrainian army." Many Russian departments also condemned the Ukrainian attack for causing civilian casualties.
But the Ukrainian side was unusually silent. A report on the Kyiv Post website said that Zelensky and his senior advisers actually made public speeches in the past two days, but did not mention a word about the Ukrainian attack.
The report believes that although it is necessary to "keep military secrets", the Ukrainian government's silence seems to be not only for the purpose of keeping military secrets, but also for more considerations, which makes the whole incident "full of mystery".
Third, the United States was “unaware”.
After the Ukrainian attack, the United States said it was not aware of it. Colby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the United States is in contact with Ukraine, hoping to learn more information. A White House spokesman said the United States is asking Ukraine what the purpose of this military action is.
Other U.S. officials said that many of Ukraine’s military actions were not communicated with the United States in advance, and "this is normal."
Many media outlets have analyzed that as Ukraine's largest military aid provider, the United States is cautious about what weapons Ukraine can use to attack targets in Russia, fearing that it will provoke Russia and lead to an escalation of the war. Therefore, the United States does not dare to make a statement easily when the information about the incident is incomplete.
Therefore, the reason why there is so much mystery surrounding this cross-border attack by the Ukrainian army is that the Ukrainian army may want to use this opportunity to attack Russia's military supply lines and interfere with the Russian army's front-line deployment, but they are worried that Russia will retaliate heavily, so they remain silent; the United States also does not want the situation to escalate, so it said it was "unaware" and was "inquiring" and trying to downplay it as much as possible.
Text丨Qian Kejin, international commentator of Yangcheng Evening News
