Ukraine invades Russia...wait, what?

[Trogdor the Burninator]

Ukraine justifies Kursk attack in first acknowledgment of incursion into Russia​

Ukraine has publicly justified its attack into Russian territory for the first time, amid reports that its forces are advancing towards a village 13 miles (20km) inside the Kursk region on the third day of its incursion.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to the president’s office, said “the root cause of any escalation”, including into Kursk, was “unequivocal aggression” on the part of Russia in believing it could invade Ukraine with impunity.

The statement is the first acknowledgment by any leading Ukrainian official of the ongoing offensive amid silence from the country’s military on events in the Russian region. “War is war, with its own rules, where the aggressor inevitably reaps corresponding outcomes,” Podolyak added.

Meanwhile, the best bit....

Vladimir Putin described it as a “large-scale provocation”

 

[Paulos23]

Strategically, this makes sense to help Ukraine by forcing Russia to move troops to stop that border and keep them there and off the main lines. On the other hand, it gives Putin a reason to use WMDs

 

[Trogdor the Burninator]

Strategically, this makes sense to help Ukraine by forcing Russia to move troops to stop that border and keep them there and off the main lines. On the other hand, it gives Putin a reason to use WMDs

Definitely agree with the first bit - it's clearly designed to make Russia withdraw forces from elsewhere on the front.

As for using WMDs (aside from some claims that Russia has already used chemical weapons in Ukraine), Putin has been threatening since almost the start of the war. It's become a joke at this point. Short of Ukrainian forces advancing on Moscow, Putin knows that use of WMDs would open up a wider war with NATO.

 

[Gene2memE]

Geolocated footage and pictures now put Ukrainian forces up to 30 km/18.5 miles inside Russia as of yesterday evening (local time). That's not the same as controlling that territory though.

At the moment, two Ukrainian mechanised brigades have been positively identified as leading the attack. Another two are tentatively reported as having been deployed as well. These all operate a mix of Western and Soviet/Russian equipment, but with an emphasis on relatively light, highly mobile armour (lots of wheeled and tracked IFVs, fewer tanks).

A four brigade attack is a force of ~8,000 troops. This is not a raid like those of 2023 and earlier in 2024. They seem to have breached Russian border defenses/roadblock forces on a wide scale (at least 15-20 km wide) and substantially pushed through the secondary line of defenses/fixed positions in at least three areas.

Looks like things are consolidating around two main axes of advance, on north and one north west, with smaller supporting advances to the east/north east. Situation still very fluid, with Russian reports about reinforcing columns being ambushed by Ukrainian special forces and unconfirmed reports of Ukrainian forward elements entering/exiting various Russian villages and towns.

Big questions still unanswered about the objectives of this attack (particularly at the operational and strategic levels) and about the Russian response.

 

[Bradskii]

Maybe it's time to sue for peace. Agree to a cease fire and they'll give the Russian territory back.

 

[wing2000]

Strategically, this makes sense to help Ukraine by forcing Russia to move troops to stop that border and keep them there and off the main lines. On the other hand, it gives Putin a reason to use WMDs

Or using captured Russian territory as a bargaining chip at the negotiating table.

 

[loveofourlord]

.is it really invading when they were already beinv invaded? Kinda sick of this nonsense, "Ukrain attacks russia." stuff we've been hearing since the start, you don't get to invade someone else then whine when you get attacked.

 

[Trogdor the Burninator]

.is it really invading when they were already beinv invaded? Kinda sick of this nonsense, "Ukrain attacks russia." stuff we've been hearing since the start, you don't get to invade someone else then whine when you get attacked.

The crying from some Pro-Putin politicians and their lackeys on twitter has been hilarious.

 

[loveofourlord]

The crying from some Pro-Putin politicians and their lackeys on twitter has been hilarious.

yeah, I don't think they should invade russia, but not due to any moral issue with it, but because putins insane enough to drop nukes over it, but if that wasn't on the tabe I say go for it.

 

[Nithavela]

Bullies always cry when their chosen victim hits back.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Or using captured Russian territory as a bargaining chip at the negotiating table.

The best "bargaining chip" argument I've seen is to get an agreement not to start new cross-border attacks and stick to the existing front line from the beginning of the year.

 

[Nithavela]

The best "bargaining chip" argument I've seen is to get an agreement not to start new cross-border attacks and stick to the existing front line from the beginning of the year.

Russia doesn't recognise something like a "front line", they've been bombing cities and killing civilians since the start of the war.

For Russia, the "front line" is "all of ukraine and not a square inch of russia". Why would Ukraine want to stick to that?

 

[Hans Blaster]

Russia doesn't recognise something like a "front line", they've been bombing cities and killing civilians since the start of the war.

For Russia, the "front line" is "all of ukraine and not a square inch of russia". Why would Ukraine want to stick to that?

I don't think the implication being made was about air raids, just the cross border operations of troops. If the Russians want to stop bombing Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians in exchange for not having there territory bombed, that might be a good exchange too but I was really only talking about things like the Kharkiv Oblast invasion of 2024.

 

[Nithavela]

I don't think the implication being made was about air raids, just the cross border operations of troops. If the Russians want to stop bombing Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians in exchange for not having there territory bombed, that might be a good exchange too but I was really only talking about things like the Kharkiv Oblast invasion of 2024.

I don't think Russia can be trusted to keep to any agreements.

 

[Hans Blaster]

I don't think Russia can be trusted to keep to any agreements.

Of course not, but this is the smack to the misbehaving child to keep them in line.

 

[Nithavela]

Of course not, but this is the smack to the misbehaving child to keep them in line.

Keep smacking.

 

[The Barbarian]

Ukraine advances deeper into Russian territory

 

[The Barbarian]

Ukraine moves into a second Russian Oblast

Ukraine has captured 100 Russian prisoners of war amid its incursion into Russia as a second border region declared a state of emergency.
A top Kyiv commander claimed the prisoners were captured in Kursk, where Ukraine has been steadily advancing since 6 August.

It comes as Belgorod’s governor said the situation was “extremely tense” in the his region next to Kursk and claimed Ukrainian forces had been shelling the oblast for days with civilians killed and wounded.

“We are making a decision to declare a regional emergency situation throughout the Belgorod region with a subsequent appeal to the government to declare a federal emergency situation,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Overnight, Ukraine fired at least 117 drones and four tactical missiles on Russian territory, including 37 on Kursk, Russian officials said.

Geolocated footage analysed by the Institute for the Study of War showed that Ukrainian forces are still “advancing further” into Kursk as Moscow scrambled to open hundreds of shelters amid a mass evacuation.

This is despite Russia’s false claims that the fierce fighting has stabilised. On Tuesday, US president Joe Biden said Putin was facing a “real dilemma” and Washington officials were in touch with Kyiv about the incursion.

MSN

www.msn.com

What's shocking is how much difficulty Russian forces have had defending Kursk and Belgorod from Ukrainian forces.

 

[iluvatar5150]

elite tier trolling:

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[The Barbarian]

elite tier trolling:

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We need a "pounding the table" emoticon.