Our colleagues have come into contact with some of the latter, most of whom do not understand what they are still doing there. “The situation is getting worse and worse,” wrote one of them, speaking of the weather conditions, the arrival of tired and “middle-aged” reinforcements, as well as a chronic lack of sleep, caused between others by the constant Russian bombings. But some of them above all question the meaning of their presence in the region, as a soldier expressed to the BBC: “We don’t see the purpose […] Our place should be there (in eastern Ukraine, editor’s note), and not here, on someone else’s soil. We don’t need these Kursk forests, where we lost so many comrades.”
Use Russian reserves
According to the Ukrainian command, it is necessary to hold on to the Kursk region. The goal is no longer to gain ground, but to maintain occupation on lands still under control. “This is the only area where we retain the initiative,” a member of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation told our colleagues. According to him, Russia is forced to devote enormous resources to the Battle of Kursk, when it would need them on other fronts. “This situation annoys Putin,” added an official from the Ukrainian army command.
Germany ready to send troops to Ukraine: “We will support everything that can lead to peace”
Rumors also suggest that Zelensky would like to use the occupied Russian territories as a “bargaining chip” at the negotiating table with Putin. kyiv would indeed like to be able to offer to return the lands of Kursk to Russia, in exchange for land occupied by the Russians in eastern Ukraine.
But with Zelensky’s troops only occupying a small piece of Russian territory, this strategy seems unlikely, or even very ineffective, according to military expert Roger Housen, contacted by De Morgen. According to him, Putin has “never cared much about Kursk”.
