Ukraine’s Kursk gambit failed – Putin

Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region has failed to achieve its intended goal of halting the advance of Moscow’s forces in Donbass, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

He stated that Russia has been making great strides in key areas of Donbass, advancing at a pace that has not been seen in a “long time.”

“The Russian armed forces are taking control of territories not by 200, 300 meters at a time, but by square kilometers,” Putin said.

The president added that Kiev’s provocation in Kursk Region would inevitably fail and that Moscow would “deal with the Ukrainian bandits” who have entered Russian territory with the aim of destabilizing the situation at the border.

After that, Putin suggested, Kiev may come to realize that it needs to resolve the conflict through negotiations, and reiterated that Moscow has never refused to hold such talks.

However, the president noted that the Ukrainian leadership was likely not interested in ending the fighting, given that it would have to hold new presidential elections as soon as martial law in the country was lifted.

“The current authorities are clearly not ready for this, they have little chance of being re-elected,” Putin said. “That is why they are not interested in ending the fighting, that is why they tried to carry out this provocation in Kursk Region, and before when they tried to carry out the same operation in Belgorod Region.”

Meanwhile, Russia will continue to protect its people in Donbass, as well as “our common future, the future of Russia,” the president said, adding that Moscow “cannot allow hostile structures to be created right next to us that hatch aggressive plans against our country and constantly try to destabilize the Russian Federation.”

Early last month, Kiev deployed thousands of troops in Russia’s Kursk Region, marking its largest cross-border assault since the start of the conflict in 2022. While Ukraine’s forces initially managed to seize some border areas, their advance was eventually halted, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.

According to Moscow’s latest estimates, the incursion has proven costly for Kiev’s forces, which have lost more than 7,800 servicemen, 75 tanks, and over 500 armored vehicles since the start of the operation on August 6.