(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine is seeking to degrade Russia’s ability to launch attacks including by establishing a buffer zone on Russian territory as Kyiv’s forces continue their cross-border incursion into the Kursk region, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
“Everything that inflicts losses on the Russian army, Russian state, their military-industrial complex, and their economy helps prevent the war from expanding and brings us closer to a just end to this aggression,” Zelenskiy said Sunday during his nightly address. “This includes creating a buffer zone on Russian territory – our operation in the Kursk region.”
Ukraine’s nearly two-week long intervention is the first time a foreign military has seized territory inside Russia since World War II. It’s put the Kremlin on the back foot as some 200,000 Russians have fled their homes, and caught Ukraine’s US and European allies by surprise. Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said last week his forces control 1,150 square kilometers (444 square miles) of territory in the Kursk region. The claims couldn’t be independently verified.
“We are achieving our goals,” Zelenskiy said Monday on his Telegram channel.
His account of the offensive’s objectives suggests Ukraine plans to try to hold on to the gains made inside Russia in order to shield northern Ukrainian communities from attacks across the border. Russia’s military has repeatedly launched missiles, glide bombs and drones from the Kursk and neighboring Belgorod regions to strike Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv and Sumy that are close to their shared border.
Providing it can retain control of the territory, Ukraine may also be seeking bargaining chips with Russia in any future negotiations to bring an end to the war that’s deep into its third year.
Ukraine said its forces struck two key bridges across a river in the Glushkov district of Kursk region at the weekend. There were unconfirmed reports from some Russian military bloggers on Telegram on Monday that a third bridge had also been destroyed, adding to challenges facing Russia’s army in reinforcing its troops and delivering ammunition supplies.
If Ukraine disables those three bridges, its forces could expand control over more of the Kursk region’s border area and shield themselves from Russian attack, said Ian Matveev, an independent military analyst. “They can set up defensive positions on the river and advance deeper,” he said.
Zelenskiy may also be goading Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said last year that his military should create “a buffer zone in Ukrainian territory” to protect Belgorod and other Russian regions from attack.
Putin made no mention of the incursion during a visit to Azerbaijan Monday for talks with President Ilham Aliyev. The Kremlin leader last week threatened a “strong response,” telling his top security officials that the Defense Ministry must “force the adversary to withdraw from our territory.”
Russia is using pontoons to cross the river and is capable of seizing back the battlefield initiative, said Sergei Markov, a political consultant close to the Kremlin. The Ukrainian incursion “has seriously strengthened the political support for an escalation of the conflict in Russia,” he said.
Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region — in particular around Pokrovsk and Toretsk — remains the focus of some of the most intensive fighting in the war. Donetsk regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said in televised comments that families with children would be required to evacuate from Pokrovsk starting Tuesday.
Russian forces are attempting to take the city of Pokrovsk that’s an important logistics hub in the region for Ukraine. The head of the local administration last week urged residents to leave, saying “the situation is only getting worse.”
(Updates with Zelenskiy comment in fourth paragraph and with details throughout.)
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