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Russia steps on the gas in Donbass

Jasper
Russia steps on the gas in Donbass

Reporter and journalist Maria SenovillaAtalayar employee, analyzed on site the control of the Ukrainian army, which they have been exercising in the Russian region for two weeks Kursk and has managed to control 1,200 square kilometers.

He also looks at Joe Biden’s $125 million military aid package, as well as Kamala Harris’ pledge to maintain her support for Ukraine and her NATO commitments.

What were you able to see and experience during your time in Kursk?

It was extremely interesting to be able to enter Russian territory and see how the Ukrainian offensive was developing. It is extremely complicated to get in there. They are very slow to let the press in because the war there, from what I have seen, is very different from the war on Ukrainian territory, where they defend, where they attack. It is a different tactic and a different way of being completely different.

The press is being taken on a very special route because, as expected, the Russian army is launching a counterattack and the shelling, especially with glide bombs and helicopters, is continuing uninterrupted. The situation is very unstable and extremely dangerous. They have taken us to an area quite close to the Sumy border.

<p>An image obtained by the Russian Defense Ministry’s Ministry of Defense is of a Russian Mi-35m attack helicopter scattered along with the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the border zone of the Kursk region in Russia – PHOTO/ HANDOUT / Ministerio de Defensa ruso / AFP</p> <p>” src=”https://www.atalayar.com/media/atalayar/images/2024/08/26/2024082614053034090.jpg”/><figcaption>An image from archive footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry claims to show a Russian Mi-35m attack helicopter firing missiles at Ukrainian forces in the border area of ​​Russia’s Kursk region. <strong>– PHOTO/HANDOUT / Ministerio de Defense ruso / AFP</strong></figcaption></figure> <p>What I could see is that there are many differences between the Ukrainians and the Russians. The first is how they treat the population. They provide humanitarian corridors so that those who have not yet been evacuated and want to be evacuated can leave. All the civilians I spoke to – I came at a time when there were almost 70 people waiting to be evacuated – agreed that the army treated them well. They were provided with water, food and a doctor so that someone who had special needs could take care of them. They also asked them if any of them had chronic diseases so that they could get the right medicines. The treatment, as I said, is different. </p> <p>They also allow NGOs into the country, both international and local aid organizations, and they act in accordance with international law, which should be respected even in the Russian-occupied territories, but that is not the case. The biggest concern of the Ukrainian army now, the press officer who came with us told us, is that the Russians have intensified this bombing campaign and are bombing their own population, even though they know that there are still many civilians who have not yet been evacuated. They are making it difficult to create these humanitarian corridors and they are also putting the Ukrainian army in trouble because they do not want these people to kill, even if they are Russians who are under their control. </p> <figure class= <p>In this photo of the group distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the situation in the Belgorod, Kursk and Briansk regions during the invasion of the Ukrainian tropics on the course of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine – PHOTO/GAVRIIL GRIGOROV / POOL / AFP</p> <p>” src=”https://www.atalayar.com/media/atalayar/images/2024/08/26/2024082614052935396.jpg”/><figcaption>In this group photo released by Russian state news agency Sputnik, President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the situation in the Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions following the invasion of Ukrainian troops in the wake of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. <strong>– PHOTO/GAVRIIL GRIGOROV / POOL / AFP</strong></figcaption></figure> <p>But the morale of the troops has nothing to do with what is happening in Donbas. People are excited because the Ukrainian army is seizing the initiative in this war for the first time in a long time, and not at the expense of the trench warfare that has slowly worn them down and bled them dry, and there is great hope that this step, this war step, will help to turn the game board of this war a little bit.</p> <p><strong>Mary, the cross for the Ukrainians is the Russian advance in Donbass.</strong></p> <p>The Russian advance in Donbass has intensified dramatically. This morning, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the town of Niu-York had fallen. The Ukrainian armed forces deny this, saying that fighting is still ongoing and that there will be heavy fighting, as in Torez. But the situation has worsened in the last two weeks.</p> <p>Russia has stepped up the pace in Donbass. Part of the Kursk operation, the operation in which Ukraine invaded Russia, was to get Russia to ease the pressure in Donbass a little because it would have to send troops from that part of Donbass to the north. But that has not happened. Russia is gathering troops from other positions and in Donbass it has increased the pace, it has increased the pressure and at the moment the situation, as I said, is terrible. The soldiers are exhausted.</p> <figure class= <p>This photo shows an impressive volume of traffic, indicating the distance from the Russian city of Kursk, just before Russia’s destroyed border town, in the Sumy region, on August 13, 2024, in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine – PHOTO/ROMAN PILIPEIUS / AFP</p> <p>” src=”https://www.atalayar.com/media/atalayar/images/2024/08/26/2024082614052868963.jpg”/><figcaption>This image shows a road sign indicating the distance to the Russian city of Kursk, next to the destroyed border post with Russia in the Sumy region on August 13, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. <strong>– PHOTO/ROMAN PILIPEY / AFP</strong></figcaption></figure> <p>For days we have been receiving messages to all citizens of Donetsk, to all residents of the whole of Donetsk, to all residents of northern Donetsk who are still under the control of the Kiev government, asking them to evacuate. This includes the towns of Kramatorsk, where I am normally stationed, Sloviansk, of course Pokrovsk, and the towns of Torez and Niu-York, which have already been taken by the Russians. The situation is very delicate. </p> <p>Very delicate, because the advance is intended to counteract what is happening in Kursk, where the Ukrainians also destroyed three bridges to prevent the Russians from being supplied by land. As you have already mentioned, the morale of the population, the fighters in Ukraine, is something else. It has recovered.</p> <p>It’s about something else, and not just the fighters. I was here all week in Sumy, which borders Russia, where they are invading Russia. And they should be worried because there is an increase in ballistic missile attacks here too, and because they are remarkably close to a response that Russia will undoubtedly give. </p> <p>And yet they are not worried. They tell you that they have to do something, that they cannot remain in this trench warfare forever, watching their young people die, because every day the funerals are repeated in every city in Ukraine. And even though they are so close to this new front that has opened up, and even though there is fear, whether you like it or not, they tell you that this was inevitable and that fortunately something is happening. </p> <figure class= <p>On August 16, 2024, a local volunteer erected a building erected by Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk, during the Ukrainian offensive in the western Russian region of Kursk – PHOTO/TATYANA MAKEYEVA / AFP</p> <p>” src=”https://www.atalayar.com/media/atalayar/images/2024/08/26/2024082614053091924.jpg”/><figcaption>A local volunteer in front of a building damaged by Ukrainian attacks in Kursk on August 16, 2024, following the Ukrainian offensive in the western Russian region of Kursk<strong> – PHOTO/TATYANA MAKEYEVA / AFP</strong></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>And Maria, Biden announces another $125 million aid package. Tonight, in her speech at the convention, Kamala Harris promised to maintain support for Ukraine and her commitments to NATO.</strong></p> <p>This is a very interesting fact to analyze, because it has been said that Zelensky may be taking advantage of the power vacuum in the United States, where there are concerns about the elections in the fall, to launch this offensive on Russian soil. This was one of the red lines that the West had imposed on Zelensky. </p> <p>One of those red lines that is gradually being crossed. The fact that Biden announced yesterday that he is sending a new military aid package worth, as you said, $125 million, which also includes ammunition for HIMARS missiles that the Ukrainians are using on Russian soil, as well as Javelin. It also includes anti-tank missiles; it is a tacit support for what is happening here. In other words, far from being a red line, Kyiv’s partners will support this offensive, even if it takes place on Russian soil.</p> <p>In addition, this military aid package includes something that is particularly important for the Donbass front: anti-drone and electronic warfare systems and equipment that are currently decimating Ukrainian soldiers in Donbass. The war there, as I said, is being fought in a completely different way than what I saw in Kursk. And the Russian army is basing all of its tactics on drones, both reconnaissance and explosives, which, I can assure you, have taken over the skies in that part of the front line, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the Ukrainians to respond. So with these anti-drone systems, they are giving them a little bit of leeway so that they can defend themselves more actively and change the situation there a little bit.</p> </div> </div><!-- .entry-content --> <footer class= Tagged , , , , , ,

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