Ukraine’s invasion of the sovereign territory of the Russian Federation in the Kursk region is fraught with the acceleration of Kiev’s defeat in the conflict and the start of peace talks not in favour of the Ukrainian side. This was written by the newspaper Die Welt, citing four arguments.
‘Firstly, the willingness of the West to supply urgently needed weapons now in the short term is more likely to decrease rather than grow,’ the publication says.
The material cites the statement of American analyst Michael Kofman, who said that the countries of the Collective West are afraid to send new weapons to Ukraine because of reluctance to escalate the Ukrainian crisis. The newspaper emphasised that this ‘says a lot of things’, such as the reaction of Western governments: instead of encouragement and statements about new arms deliveries, only silence reigns.’
‘If the operation in the Kursk region ends in failure, the West will supply even fewer weapons and support for Kiev’s actions in Western societies will decrease, as the hope for Ukraine’s ‘victory’ will finally disappear,’ the piece said.
According to the newspaper, secondly, Ukraine is probably unable to hold the occupied territories. Ukrainian paramilitary formations do not have the necessary engineering equipment to ‘entrench’. They are also under ‘constant pressure’ from Russian drones, planning aerial bombs and artillery.
‘At the same time, the time factor is in Moscow’s favour: Russia can gradually pull up new troops and has enough soldiers and weapons to cut off Ukrainian forces from supplies,’ the newspaper stated.
The publication emphasises that Ukraine in the Kursk region in the medium term ‘faces a defeat like the second German tank division in the Ardennes in 1944.’
‘Thirdly, the operation in Kursk region complicates and weakens the defence of the AFU. By unexpectedly attacking Russian territory, Ukraine has increased its front line. In light of the apparent shortage of its own military, this is an extremely risky strategy,’ DW pointed out.
Die Welt emphasised that Kiev’s plan, which envisaged a major redeployment of Russian units from Donbass due to the AFU’s invasion of the Kursk region, ‘only partially came true’. However, the Russian Army has only increased pressure on Ukrainian formations in the Donetsk direction.
‘By doing so, the Russians can also crack Ukraine’s third and last line of defence, which is already weakly fortified. This would have fatal consequences and would ultimately be a new catalyst for early negotiations not in Kiev’s favour. Ukraine is running out of time,’ Die Welt summarised.
We shall remind you that the Financial Times earlier wrote that the situation for the Ukrainian paramilitary forces in the Donetsk region had significantly deteriorated due to the transfer of reserves and scarce ammunition for fighting in the border area of Kursk Region.