L’esercito ucraino continua la sua avanzata nella regione russa di Kursk. ▪ Dopo aver catturato altri 5 villaggi, le truppe ucraine sono avanzate di 15 chilometri nel territorio russo.

Total moron here when it comes to anything military, but what’s the point? Why carry out an offensive when men are and material are desperately needed to defend elsewhere? Russia is advancing in the Donbas, wouldn’t it make much more sense to focus on that area rather than go into Kursk that has no tactical/strategic value?

I don’t think it brings a lot of political benefit, the whole “bring the war home” thing clearly didn’t work in the past so why would it work now, I doubt it will lead to a more favorable loss ratio than defending the donbas would and it doesn’t allow for cutting off logistics to other front line areas or something of the sorts.

It feels very strange to me, but again, admittedly I am a total moron when it comes to anything military

Edit: I see a lot of people responding that the point is to divert Russian troops. Ukraine has to allocate troops and equipment to such an offensive too, I wonder if the math will work out in their favor. Also russia will certainly not allocate people from the donbas front, where the most pressure is currently

This is the way. You need to put pressure on Russia where it feels too comfortable at the moment. Essentially Ukraine has been defending its whole border (including Belarussian and Black sea) as Russians do not have any issues to attack from any side if they have a chance, but limiting itself (due to a number of reasons) only to advancing along Russian aggression within Ukrainian borders. Remembering how easy it was for Prigozhin to advance within the borders basically unopposed towards Moscow, this could help open up a lot of pressure points withing Russia’s defence.

And bonus points hitting the logistics hubs + encircling any larger army groups from behind. Happy hunting!

Maybe the plan is to either divert Russian resources and make it easier to retake Kharkiv for Ukraine or to actually occupy Russian land and force them into a swap deal.

“Give us back Kharkiv and we will consider returning Kursk.”

Maybe?

“Return to your 1991 border or we will march into Moscow.”

eheheh

I wonder if it’s hoped that this attack can derail Russia’s offensive in Donetsk, especially around Pokrovsk?

Kirsk referendum coming soon