Zelenskiy’s gamble

The Ukrainian president’s hope that invading Russia’s Kursk region would force Moscow to redeploy troops away from the eastern front was a risky move – and the outcome is far from clear

By Dan Sabbagh SUMY

More than two weeks after its surprise incursion into Russia, Ukraine finds itself struggling to find a balance between seizing territory across the border in Kursk and losing it at the heart of the eastern front in central Donetsk. Last Friday, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, claimed advances were being made of up to 3km a day inside Russia, but Moscow’s forces have gained about 5km this month as the Kremlin bets heavily on capturing the hub of Pokrovsk. In the minds of many Ukrainians, the two struggles are related and the ultimate result uncertain. Russia had been expected to shift significant forces from the east to defend Kursk. But Hanna Shelest, a senior fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis, said that while the daring Ukrainian attack had “gone better than…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 23 August 2024

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