President Vladimir Putin of Russia stated on Monday, September 2, that Kyiv’s incursion into the Kursk region of Russia will not impede Moscow’s progress in Eastern Ukraine. He also vowed to address the presence of Ukrainian “bandits” in the region.
On August 6, Ukraine’s unexpected incursion into Russia resulted in the displacement of approximately 130,000 individuals. Consequently, Kyiv has maintained control over certain sections of the bordering Kursk region.
Putin: The Invasion Of Kursk By Ukraine Won’t Derail Our Plans
Moscow had planned to redeploy its troops from Eastern Ukraine to the Kursk border region. However, Moscow has chosen to keep its most experienced soldiers engaged in the Eastern Ukraine offensive, while Ukraine continues to make advancements in Kursk.
Our adversaries attempted to halt our offensive operations in critical regions of the Donbas. However, their efforts were unsuccessful, as evidenced by our continued progress in the region,” Putin stated during a meeting with students in Siberia.
“The result is clear. Yes, people are going through difficult experiences, especially in the Kursk region. But the main aim that the enemy had — to stop our offensive in Donbas — it did not achieve,” Putin said.
He added Moscow is seeing advances at a “rate that we did not have for a long time.”
Kyiv has said one of its aims of going into Kursk was to stretch the Russian Army and force it to pull reserves from east Ukraine.
“We have to of course deal with these bandits that entered the territory of the Russian Federation, specifically the Kursk region, attempting to destabilise the situation in the border areas,” Putin said.
The Russian leader’s language was a break from previous statements on the incursion, which he had described as “the situation that has evolved”.
Putin had in the past threatened nuclear war if its territory were invaded. Ukraine’s occupation of Russia is the first time a foreign army has occupied Russia since Nazi Germany in WWII.