Vladimir Putin may be allowing Ukraine‘s Kursk offensive to happen to help motivate more Russians to fight, an expert has claimed.
CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier has claimed that some Russian experts in the US government do not believe that Putin is “serious” about winning the war.
She added that Putin’s apparent lack of ability or willingness to drive the Ukrainians out of Russian territory has made her “curious.
Ms Dozier said: “It’s kind of remarkable that the Russian response has been so paltry that not only are they not pushing the Ukrainians out but they can’t seem to stop their advances.
“That has me curious. This is like a chess match where one opponent does something and the other opponent responds.
“Russians are often very slow on the battlefield but it has me wondering whether Putin has looked at the situation and said ‘Kursk could be the thing to motivate the Russian population.’
“When you talk to a number of Russian specialists in the US government, they say that Putin has not been serious about winning the Ukrainian war.
“If he was serious he would mobilise his entire population and draft more soldiers to make up for his losses on the battlefield.
“He hasn’t done that. Well, he hasn’t done that because popular opinion would wise up against him, unless Russians felt endangered.
“The Kursk attack is making Russians feel very threatened.”
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his troops have taken more territory in the Kursk region.
He added that the attack was launched to prevent Russia making gains near Kharkiv, Ukraine‘s second-largest city, and other parts of the country.
Zelensky explained: “Russia prepared an invasion of the Kharkiv region and wanted to occupy millions of people in the city of Kharkiv. Today 1.5 million people live there because Russia attacked this direction and destroyed houses in small towns and villages of Kharkiv region,
“People came to Kharkiv and there are now 1.5 million people there. Russia wants to occupy this city, it was part of their operation, but we disrupted this offensive.”
Ukrainian forces have captured hundreds of Russian men and taken a number of towns and villages in Kursk.
Earlier this month, Putin vowed to “kick the enemy out” of Kursk.
He said: ”[T]he defence ministry’s main task is to push, to kick the enemy out of our territory.”