Putin: Ukraine's invasion of Kursk failed to stop Russia's advance eastwards

VLADIVOSTOK: President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday (September 5) that Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region had failed to slow Russia's advance in eastern Ukraine and had weakened Kyiv's defences along the front line, giving Moscow a backing.

Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok that Russian forces are currently gradually pushing Ukrainian soldiers out of Kursk, where Ukraine launched the largest foreign attack on Russia since World War II on August 6.

Ukraine has weakened its defences elsewhere, allowing Russia to accelerate its advance into the eastern Donbass region, he said, reiterating that Moscow's main goal is to gain complete control over Donbass.

“The enemy's goal was to make us nervous and anxious, to move troops from one sector to another and to stop our offensive in key regions, primarily in Donbass,” Putin said. “Did it work? No.”

Putin, who ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 as part of what he called a special military operation, said it was now “the sacred duty of the armed forces” to expel Ukrainian troops from Kursk and defend Russian citizens.

Ukraine's supreme commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said one of the goals of the Kursk operation was to divert Russian troops from other areas, especially from eastern Ukraine near the cities of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.

Although the Kursk attack was an embarrassment for Putin and the military's top brass, Russian officials now portray it as one of Kyiv's biggest tactical mistakes of the war, claiming that it tied up thousands of troops and achieved little real benefit.

“By moving relatively large and well-trained units to the border areas, we weakened the enemy in key areas and our troops accelerated their offensive operations,” Putin said.