Ukrainian forces crossed the border into Russia on August 6 in a highly risky move that diverged from its prior strategy in combating Russia’s invasion.
It had taken and held 500 square miles of Russian territory as of last week, according to Ukraine’s army chief.
Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told the Kyiv Post that he viewed Ukraine’s operation as a success.
He said the move would resonate beyond the territory itself, creating big problems for Russian President Vladimir Putin in how ordinary Russians see their leaders and military.
It showed how Ukraine can achieve such big wins without much Western involvement, he said.
He said the “incursion was taken without a lot of guidance from the West, and look how well it worked.”
TATYANA MAKEYEVA/AFP via Getty Images
The attack on Kursk was done seemingly without giving advance knowledge to Western partners.
Breedlove, who is also a retired US Air Force general, compared Ukraine’s success in Kursk to its big counteroffensive last year, where Ukraine was unable to take back vast swathes of territory.
He said that with that counteroffensive, “I think the West and others put a lot of limits on Ukraine.”
He said be believed Ukraine would have been more successful if it could have been as daring as it was in Kursk.
“I believe if Ukraine had been able to use that kind of initiative last year, we would have had a different result.”
Western limits
While Western countries have committed billions of dollars of weaponry to Ukraine, they also place limits on their use, which have proved frustrating.
Ukraine was initially not allowed to use any Western weapons on any targets inside Russia, leaving Russia to freely position its weapons just over the border. That restriction was relaxed in May.
But many allies, the US among them, still forbid Ukraine from using long-range weapons within Russia, limits Ukraine’s ability to hit the highest-value targets there.
Breedlove said that he believes Western policymakers have limited Ukraine because Putin has convinced them that if Ukraine wins, “there will be immense consequences.”
AP Photo
“The most successful weapon that Putin has in this war is intimidation or, in military parlance, his ability to restrict Western actions by his threats.”
Breedlove said “I believe this war will end exactly how Western policymakers want it to end. Right now, Western policymakers are unable to morally or intellectually understand what a Ukrainian win would mean. Putin defeated, Russia’s military defeated.”
He said Western limits on Ukraine should change: “If Ukraine is able to strike Russian equipment supply and personnel before they get to Ukraine, I think Ukraine can win this war.”
Breedlove said he believes it is too early to say for sure if Kursk is “a great strategic success,” though he believes it is.
He said that in this incursion, Ukraine has “dictated the terms of this fight,” a stark contrast to much of the war, when its focus was on limiting Russia.
George Barros, a Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War think tank, told BI last month that it’s not clear how the fast-moving operation will end, but he said it has been positive for Ukraine after months of grinding war, during which it was almost entirely on the defensive.
“It is now no longer the Ukrainians lying on their back for nine-plus months at a time simply trying their best to triage,” he said.
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