In an interview with UNIAN, the military analyst and former commander of the "Aidar" battalion Yevgeny Dikiy expressed confidence that if Ukraine fails to mobilize 160,000 soldiers by the New Year, the issue of continuing or expanding the operation in the Kursk region may be dropped by January, as quoted by Focus.
Multiple media outlets are reporting daily that Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to return Kursk Oblast to Russian control before the inauguration of new US President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025. British intelligence has predicted that Moscow is likely to increase kamikaze drone attacks against positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and may begin using new drone launch sites near the border with Ukraine.
Commenting on the possibility of the Ukrainian Armed Forces maintaining control over the Kursk region in view of the available resources of the Ukrainian army, the ATO veteran emphasized:
"It depends on the reserves we have. This applies not only to the Kursk region, but also to the mobilization process as a whole. If we gather at least 160,000 people by the New Year, that would be one situation. If the pace remains the same as before, by the end of January the issue of Kursk Oblast will probably be dropped, as well as that of Kupyansk and many others. Everything depends on whether we will be able to change the mobilization situation at the moment."