Hell who knows? President Zelensky and the Western intelligence organs have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to have some negotiating room should Donald Trump win the Presidential election. If you approach this stuff with the mental precondition that there are some closely-guarded secrets in Ukraine that people are willing to kill to conceal, maybe things make some sense. Or maybe not.
From UnHerd, August 13:
The Ukrainian raid on the Kursk region of Russia has taken both the Russians and Ukraine’s allies by surprise. There is no doubt that the raid has embarrassed Moscow. The Russian Ministry of Defence clearly left a weak point open in their lines that the Ukrainians were able to exploit. Yet at the same time, the Ukrainians have not really given any indication of what the strategic or even tactical goal of the raid is.
There are three related aspects that stand out about the raid and make it look unusual. First, if the raid is aimed at taking and holding Russian territory it is not clear what logistical routes the Ukrainians intend on using for resupply. Secondly, the Ukrainian army is already stretched thin along the main frontlines, so it is odd that the Ukrainians would remove some of their best soldiers to undertake a raid on Kursk unless there was some goal. Third, the fighting conditions in Kursk are dismal for the Ukrainians — their lack of air defence means that they are sitting ducks for Russian aircraft, missiles and drones.
Some have said that the raid is purely to generate attention for the Ukrainians, and this may well be true. But an alternative interpretation is that the Ukrainians are trying to capture the nuclear power plant in Kurchatov in the West of the Kursk region. News reports say that the Ukrainians have advanced 30 kilometres into Russia. But Russian war maps show that there is fighting as far into Russia as Kromskie Byki which is 60 kilometres from the Russian border by road. The Kursk nuclear power plant is around 50 kilometres from Kromskie Byki by road so from a purely geographical point-of-view the evidence suggests that Ukraine may be trying to capture it. Russia is anticipating an attack and forces are already building fortifications around the power plant....
....MUCH MORE
