Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that the Ukrainian army’s incursion into the Kursk region, which has caused more than 100,000 civilians to flee and embarrassed the Kremlin, is an attempt by Kyiv to stop Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and gain leverage in possible future peace talks.
Personally?
I don’t think Ukraine should stop until it holds Moscow.
Putin’s nuclear bluff has been called. He threatened it and threatened it when it wasn’t useful, and now he’s been invaded, and there have been no nukes.
Ukraine doesn’t have the manpower to occupy anything. The smart thing is to go in, fuck shit up as much as possible, then leave again with as many prisoners of war as possible. They barely have enough people to actually defend their own lines, taking Moscow is just a ridiculous proposition (and it would be seen as an existential threat to Russia that would make nuking Kyiv a valid option in Russia’s eyes).
I don’t think Moscow is a good target. Russia doesn’t regard capitals the same way other countries do, it seems, and there’s quite a history of foreign making the sane mistake.