War in Ukraine, day 900 | Ukrainian incursion aims to ‘destabilize’ Russia, says Kyiv

(Kyiv) The incursion into the Russian region of Kursk is an attempt to “stretch” Moscow’s forces and “destabilize” Russia, according to a senior Ukrainian official interviewed by AFP, on the sixth day of this surprise attack.

After months of retreating in the face of the Kremlin’s army on the eastern front, Ukraine launched an unprecedented large-scale operation on Tuesday in the Russian border region of Kursk, penetrating, according to analysts, at least fifteen kilometers and taking control of several localities.

“The goal is to stretch the enemy’s positions, inflict maximum losses on them, destabilize the situation in Russia — because they are unable to protect their own borders — and transfer the war to Russian territory,” a Ukrainian security official said Saturday evening, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Russian military said Wednesday that Ukraine had deployed about 1,000 troops in the incursion that caught the Kremlin off guard.

Asked about this Russian statement, the Ukrainian official retorted that “many more” troops from Kyiv were participating, “thousands.”

“Moving the War”

After days of silence on the operation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged it for the first time in his daily address Saturday night, saying Kyiv was seeking to “move the war to the territory of the aggressor.”

In response to the attack, Russia sent reinforcements and established an “anti-terrorist” regime in three regions bordering Ukraine, including Kursk.

It announced on Saturday that it had evacuated more than 76,000 people from the area affected by the incursion. Ukraine, for its part, has requested the evacuation of at least 20,000 civilians from the Sumy region, located opposite that of Kursk.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has been on a relentless offensive ever since, occupying swathes of the east and south of the country and subjecting Ukrainian cities to daily artillery, missile and drone attacks.

No weakening of Russian pressure in the East

According to the Ukrainian official, the incursion was initially aimed at diverting Russian forces from the Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv (northeast) and Donbass (east) to ease their pressure on the troops in Kyiv, who are fewer in number and lack weapons.

But so far the incursion appears to have had little impact on the eastern front, the official admitted.

“In principle, the situation has not changed. Their pressure in the East continues, they are not withdrawing their troops from this area,” even if the “intensity” of Russian attacks in the East has “decreased a little bit,” he detailed.

“In any case, it’s nice. It’s a very good operation” that “caught the Russians off guard” and “really boosted our morale, that of the Ukrainian army, the state and society” exhausted by two and a half years of invasion, said the official.

“This operation showed that we can attack and advance,” he stressed.

Sooner or later, he said, Russia will “stop” Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region, but if “after a certain time it fails to retake these territories, they can be used for political purposes,” for example, during peace negotiations, the official added.

Western allies warned, says Kyiv

He claimed that Russia was preparing a massive missile attack against “decision-making centers” in Ukraine in response to the offensive.

Ukraine’s Western allies were warned of the incursion, he also said.

“Since Western weapons are actively used” in this operation, “our Western partners were indirectly involved in its planning,” he said.

The White House said Wednesday it was reaching out to Ukraine to learn more about the “objectives” of the incursion.

The Ukrainian official also assured that Ukrainian troops respected international humanitarian law during the incursion and that they had no intention of annexing the areas they currently occupy.

“There is no idea of ​​annexation… We are acting in strict compliance with international law,” he said.

“We do not execute prisoners, we do not rape women, we do not loot,” the official said. “Bucha, Irpin – all this is not happening and will not happen,” he added, referring to the atrocities attributed to Russian troops in these Ukrainian cities in early 2022.

Asked whether the capture of the Kursk nuclear power plant near the border was among the objectives of the operation, he replied: “We will see.” […] “We are absolutely not going to cause any nuclear security problems.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency urged both sides to “exercise maximum restraint to avoid a nuclear accident that could have serious radiological consequences.”