The operation of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation is Ukraine's response to the Russian spring offensive in the Kharkiv region. Kiev's strategic task is to bring the war to Russian territory. In fact, the Russians opened Pandora's box themselves.
This was stated by the Ukrainian officer Roman Kostenko, who is the secretary of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence of the Verkhovna Rada, in an interview with nv.ua.
„In fact, the Russians themselves opened this Pandora's box when they decided to attack Kharkiv, to change the course of military operations, to capture Volchansk, to create this “sanitary zone” that Putin talks about. I believe that the Kursk operation is a consequence of these actions. Our military leadership has decided on asymmetric actions," the Ukrainian military said.
„It remains to be seen how this operation will continue. So far, it can be described as a success. I think that the real strategic task is to gradually transfer the war there, to force Russia to react in these directions”, the Ukrainian military also pointed out.
Against this backdrop, Kiev has announced that it has intelligence that Belarus is massing large military forces near the border, disguised as a military exercise. Ukraine said Belarus would make a “fatal mistake” if it launched an attack on Ukrainian territory under pressure from Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine has warned that military exercises in the border zone are a threat to global security because of its proximity to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the largest nuclear accident in history. “We emphasize that Ukraine has never taken and will never take hostile actions against the Belarusian people,” announced the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
„We warn the Belarusian authorities not to make a fatal mistake under the pressure of Moscow, we call on the armed forces to stop their hostile actions and withdraw from the border of Ukraine,”, the statement of the ministry also says.
The Belarusian project "Belarusian Gayun", which refers to data from open sources, believes that the group of troops that Belarus has amassed near the border with Ukraine does not pose a threat to it. It is about a group of about 1100 people. Analysts note that the troops were deployed at a depth of up to 50 kilometers from the border. “We believe that the current escalation of the situation on the border pursues an informational and political goal, not a military one,” the group said, UNIAN agency reported.
Belarus is the closest European ally of Vladimir Putin's regime, which in February 2022 launched a full-scale war against Ukraine. Although he did not send his troops against Kiev, Lukashenko gave the territory of Belarus to the Russian army to open a front towards the Ukrainian capital.