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Putin Says Ukraine's Kursk Incursion Has Failed to Slow Donbas Advance

Investigators inspect the site of the Russian missile strike in an office building, amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Investigators inspect the site of the Russian missile strike in an office building, amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
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Putin Says Ukraine's Kursk Incursion Has Failed to Slow Donbas Advance

Investigators inspect the site of the Russian missile strike in an office building, amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Investigators inspect the site of the Russian missile strike in an office building, amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Ukraine's incursion into Russia's western Kursk region had failed to slow the Russian advance in Donbas and had weakened Ukraine's own defenses along the frontline helping Moscow's forces.
Putin, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, said that Russian forces were pushing Ukrainian soldiers out from Kursk where they launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two on Aug. 6.
By transferring large numbers of well-trained units into Russia's border region, Ukraine had weakened its own defenses and had allowed Russia to accelerate its advance in eastern Ukraine, he said.
"The enemy's goal was to make us nervous and worry and to transfer troops from one sector to another and stop our offensive in key areas, primarily in the Donbas," Putin said. "Did it work? No."
"By transferring rather large and well-trained units to these border areas with us, the enemy weakened itself in key areas, and our troops accelerated offensive operations."
Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, said it was "the sacred duty of the armed forces" to expel the invaders and defend Russia's citizens. He said that the situation had stabilized and that Russia was starting to push out Ukrainian troops from Kursk.
The primary goal of Russia was to take Donbas in its entirety, he added, saying Russian forces were taking chunks of territory in eastern Ukraine more swiftly than ever - and that recruitment rates were increasing in Russia.
"No action is taking place to contain our offensive," Putin said. He said that the Russian advance on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk was successful.
Though the Kursk attack was an embarrassment for Putin and the top military brass, Russian officials are now casting the attack as one of Kyiv's biggest tactical mistakes of the war because they say it ties down thousands of their troops for little real tactical or strategic gain.
Russian forces, which control 18% of Ukraine, have been advancing in eastern Ukraine since the failure of Kyiv's 2023 counter-offensive to achieve a major breakthrough.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack was an attempt to bring the war to Russia, to force Putin to peace and to carve out a buffer zone to prevent Russian attacks on the neighboring Sumy region.
Ukraine's top commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that one of the objectives of the Kursk attack was to divert Russian forces from other areas, primarily in eastern Ukraine near Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.

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Kremlin Says Threat from the West Forces Change to Nuclear Doctrine 

A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past an honor guard during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022. (Reuters)
A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past an honor guard during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022. (Reuters)
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Kremlin Says Threat from the West Forces Change to Nuclear Doctrine 

A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past an honor guard during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022. (Reuters)
A Russian Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives past an honor guard during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022. (Reuters)

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia was adjusting its nuclear doctrine because the United States and its Western allies were threatening Russia by escalating the war in Ukraine and riding roughshod over Moscow's legitimate security interests.

Russia, the world's biggest nuclear power, is making changes to its nuclear doctrine - which sets out the circumstances under which Moscow would use such weapons - due to the West's increasing support for Ukraine which Russia invaded in 2022.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in Moscow's most detailed explanation to date, linked the move directly to the "threats" created by the West and blamed the United States for destroying the post-Cold War security architecture of Europe.

The West, Peskov said, had rejected dialogue with Russia and taken a line of attack against its security interests while stoking "the hot war in Ukraine."

"It is the United States that is the ringmaster of the process of provoking tension," Peskov said.

Peskov indicated that revision of the nuclear doctrine was at an early stage, saying that the current tensions would be analyzed carefully and then form the basis of proposed changes.

Russia's current published nuclear doctrine, set out in a 2020 decree by President Vladimir Putin, says Russia may use nuclear weapons in case of a nuclear attack by an enemy or a conventional attack that threatens the existence of the state.

Russia and the United States are by far the world's biggest nuclear powers, holding about 88% of the world's nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists. Both are modernizing their nuclear arsenals while China is rapidly boosting its nuclear arsenal.

The war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, with both sides saying they cannot afford to lose the conflict.

UKRAINE WAR

As Russia, which now controls 18% of Ukraine, advances, Kyiv has repeatedly asked for more Western weapons and permission to use Western-supplied long-range weapons in its attacks far into the Russian territory.

The US is close to an agreement to give Ukraine long-range cruise missiles that could reach deep into Russia, but Kyiv would need to wait several months as the US works through technical issues ahead of any shipment, US officials said.

Sending Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) to Ukraine could significantly alter the strategic landscape of the war by putting more of Russia in range of powerful, precision-guided munitions, an important concern of the Biden administration, the officials said.

Peskov said it was obvious that Ukraine would move to striking targets deep in Russia with Western weapons.

Russia's foreign ministry said if Russia was struck with long-range weapons, the response would be immediate and "extremely painful".

"They are losing their sense of reality, they absolutely do not think about the risks of further dangerous escalation of the conflict, even in the context of their own interests," Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said.

"We would like to warn such irresponsible politicians in the EU, NATO, and overseas - in case of appropriate aggressive steps by the Kyiv regime, Russia's response will follow immediately."