What will happen after Kiev's attack on Russian territory?

2024-08-15 16:49:16, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said that Kiev troops are in full control of the Russian city of Sudzha after the Ukrainian attack on the Kursk region. This is the largest city that Ukraine managed to take under control.

Before the war, Sudzha is said to have had a population of about 5,000 inhabitants. Natural gas flows from the West Siberian gas fields through pipelines that pass through the city of Sudzha and cross the Ukrainian border into the Ukrainian system.

Ukrainian President Zeenskyy said on Thursday that an office of the Ukrainian military command has been established in Sudzha. He did not discuss the details or functions of the office, and these claims were impossible to independently verify.

As Ukrainian forces continue their offensive operation deeper into Russia, questions are being raised about what Kiev plans to do with the Russian territory it has seized.

As Voice of America correspondent Anna Chernikova reports, security experts see the Ukraine operation as an attempt to withdraw Russian troops from the front lines, and the occupied land as a tool in possible peace negotiations.

Residents of the city of Sumy, just 30 kilometers from Ukraine's border with Russia, are surrounded by signs of war.

For Svitlana and others here, Ukraine's seizure of Russian territory in the Kursk border region was a surprise and a sign that the war may be a step closer to the end.

"At the end of the day, this war has to end somehow. It is not fair because the attacks were coming from only one direction and it is not a war when it is one-sided. We have to respond so that it ends faster," she says.

Sumy was one of the first Ukrainian cities to face the Russian attack in 2022.

Two years later, this city was used as a base for Ukraine's surprise attack on Russia.

Residents say Russian missile attacks have intensified since last week, when Ukraine launched its offensive in Kursk, Russia.

"I think the situation has escalated. The Russians are responding, they are angry," says Tatiana, a resident of the city of Sumy.

Officials say that Ukraine's goal is not the permanent occupation of Russian territory. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says this is being done to protect the Ukrainian people and end the war.

"By destroying the Russian military presence in the border areas, peace and security for our country are closer," he says.

Security experts see the Ukrainian operation as an attempt to force the withdrawal of Russian troops from the front line.

They see occupied land as a tool in possible peace negotiations.

"As President Biden said, it's a strategic dilemma for Russia, Putin. Why? Because now Putin has two options, to defend the Kursk region on the territory of Russia, or to continue the offensive operation on the eastern front line in the Donbas of Ukraine", says Oleksandr Musienko from the Center for Military and Legal Studies.

He says that Ukraine is also highlighting Russia's weaknesses.

"Showing the world that it should not be afraid of the Russians. "Ukraine should be allowed to use long-range missiles against Russian military facilities on their territory," says Mr. Musienko.

In Ukraine, all attention is on the sudden developments in Kursk, how far it can go and how Kiev will maintain control of Russian territories.

The capture of Russian territory has raised hopes in Ukraine that the end of the war is near and that the result may be in favor of Kiev./ VOA