According to the New York Times on the 19th local time, Ukrainian troops, who entered the Russian mainland, have been expanding their occupation by moving along highways in the Russian Kursk Oblast adjacent to Sumy Oblast in northeastern Ukraine since the 6th. In particular, clashes have been occurring in the outskirts of Korenovo, about 24 kilometers from the border, as Russian forces are making every effort to stop the advance of Ukrainian troops. If the Ukrainian forces advance deeper, the Russian forces, which have relied on railway supplies, could suffer a serious blow as the Ukrainian artillery range could cover the essential railway network in the rear.
The New York Times added that the Russian forces are in a precarious situation as three bridges crossing the 748-kilometer river, the Seim River, flowing through the Kursk Oblast into Ukraine have been successively destroyed. The Ukrainian Air Force demolished the first bridge near Glusikovo village in the Kursk Oblast on the 16th and carried out bombings on the other two bridges. Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleksik wrote on Telegram on the 18th, “One more bridge has been cut down.” Although reports surfaced on Russian social media that one of the Seim River bridges had its deck damaged but withstood the bombing, it was reported on the 19th that even that bridge had been completely destroyed.
Having fought battles in vast plains, both Russia and Ukraine have heavily relied on tactics to encircle and annihilate the enemy. The New York Times reported that in Russian military jargon, a situation where one is surrounded by the enemy or trapped with rivers blocking the retreat path is referred to as a ‘cauldron.’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated in a speech on the night of the 18th that the purpose of the attack on Russian territory was to create a “buffer zone,” and on the 19th, he claimed that this attack revealed that Russia’s “red lines” were merely pretentious. Zelensky expressed concern that due to fears of crossing the red lines set by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the West has so far prohibited long-range missile attacks on Russian territory, but there is a significant ideological shift occurring where the naive and illusory concept of Russia’s red lines dominating assessments of this war by some Western allies is crumbling.
He also urged that due to the restrictions imposed by Western alliances, Ukraine has been unable to hit Russian military targets even with weapons, and there continues to be a situation where restrictions on the use of Western weapons are not adequately eased.
[Photo Source: Reuters=Yonhap News]
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