The increasingly massive advance of Ukrainian forces on Russian territory is a central topic for the Western press. "Ukraine's invasion of Russia flips Putin's script" reads a leading headline in the American "New York Times" and according to the British "Guardian" nine days after entering the Kursk region, Kiev has gained a "psychological and political advantage", but has taken a risk, with Russian President Vladimir Putin "not going to let things go like this,", BTA wrote in a review of the Western press.
The reality of 130,000 displaced Russians and the chaotic response may affect the Kremlin's official line that Russia is on its way to victory, notes the New York Times. "Families fleeing the advancing Ukrainian troops sought shelter with strangers. Russian parents fear that their children may be sent to the front," the publication wrote in its report.
"The New York Times" described Putin "leafing through a white notebook at Monday's televised crisis meeting, reading aloud from handwritten notes, suggesting his advisers had not had time to write a speech for him as they usually do." The newspaper adds that last week's surprise invasion of Ukraine has not changed the overall course of the war, but it has already dealt a blow to Russia, not only because of the territory taken. It puts the government in Moscow and Russian society, which had largely adapted to the war, into a new situation of unplanned decisions and uncertainty.
The American publication also notes that Putin "did not say anything about the invasion after meeting with representatives of the security services and regional authorities" - it was a "tense meeting, at which the president at one point scolded the governor of the Kursk region (acting Aleksey Smirnov - note ed.) for publishing in the public domain data on the depth and breadth of Ukraine's offensive" on Russian territory. According to the "New York Times" the invasion of Ukrainian units into Russia on August 6 was as shocking to Moscow as the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin's mercenaries at the end of June last year (the owner of the private military company "Wagner" died two months later in a plane crash ).
Another American edition - "Washington Post" emphasized the information that Ukrainian drones have struck four Russian military airfields. "After they sent reinforcements to Kursk and declared an "anti-terrorist" operation, Russian forces have not been able to stop the invasion that began nine days ago," the newspaper said. Ukrainian forces continued their major cross-border offensive in Russia's Kursk region for a second week, seizing more land, capturing more Russian servicemen and destroying an Su-34 fighter jet in attacks on military airfields, the Washington Post adds.
The newspaper quotes the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces Oleksandr Sirsky, according to whom there are more than a hundred Russian soldiers in Ukrainian captivity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also quoted as saying that they would be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war. About the "Washington Post" the statement of the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk, who announced yesterday that the Ukrainian military plans to open humanitarian corridors that will allow civilians from the Russian regions controlled by Kiev to move to other places in Russia or to Ukraine, is also key.
According to the British Guardian, "Ukraine's offensive in Russia brings psychological and political advantages, but Kiev is aware that Putin cannot let things go". Nine days after the invasion of the Kursk region, Ukrainian forces are showing increasing confidence, notes the publication, whose team spoke with two Ukrainian servicemen. According to them, their army is expected to capture territories "inside Russia", as far as the food and ammunition supply routes can reach.
Ukraine has taken the risk of pouring resources into the Kursk region when it knows that Russia is not easing pressure in the Donetsk region, the British newspaper points out, which also draws attention to information that Putin has appointed Alexei Dyumin "to head what the Kremlin announced a “counter-terrorist operation” in the Kursk region. Dyumin is a former Putin bodyguard whose duties included playing ice hockey with the president, and is even considered by some to be his eventual successor in the Kremlin, the British paper said.
The new leader's military experience may be limited, but the choice of a confidante suggests how much importance Putin attaches to the task of dealing with the invasion, the "Guardian" points out.
According to the newspaper, Ukraine would have to gain much more territory than the 1,000 square kilometers announced by Zelensky and Sirsky to carry out a territory swap with Moscow, given that Russia controls about 18% of Ukraine - an area roughly the size of Portugal. "The advantages of the operation so far are psychological - striking a blow to the image of Putin as an iron leader and boosting morale in Ukraine, and political - showing European governments and, perhaps most importantly, US voters that the billions in military aid to "Kiev are not a loss," writes the Guardian.
For the American in. "Wall Street Journal" the emphasis is that "Russia is withdrawing some forces from Ukraine in response to the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk Oblast". From this information from American officials, the newspaper concluded that Moscow was redeploying its forces in the invasion of Ukraine. US officials told the Wall Street Journal that Washington was still trying to determine the significance of Russia's move and did not specify how many troops Moscow had transferred from the Ukrainian front to the Kursk region.
The US assessment of the military situation backs up claims by Ukrainian officials, who said last week's surprise incursion into Russian territory diverted Russian forces from Ukraine, where Moscow's advantage in manpower and equipment allowed it to seize populated places in several areas, summarizes "Wall Street Journal".