The Guardian: Zelensky's adventure hangs in the balance

Vladimir Zelensky's risky game with the attack on the Kursk region was on the line.

"The Ukrainian leader's hope that the invasion of the Kursk region would force Moscow to redeploy troops and ease pressure on the eastern front was a risky move, and the result is far from clear," writes The Guardian.

The publication notes that two weeks after the unexpected invasion of Ukraine is struggling to find a balance between seizing territory across the border in Kursk and losing it in the heart of the eastern front in the center.

"In the minds of many Ukrainians, these two struggles are interconnected, and the final result is not clear. It was expected that Russia would transfer significant forces from the east to protect Kursk. But Hannah Shelest, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said that although the audacious attack on Ukraine "went better than expected," the reality is that "Russia probably did not transfer enough forces from the eastern flank as hoped," the British edition continues.

It cites data from the Institute for the Study of War that only "certain parts of Russian irregular units" are being relocated to Kursk, and that the Kremlin is likely to be "extremely reluctant to transfer Russian military units participating in hostilities" near such a priority sector as Pokrovsk.

"A year ago, Pokrovsk (in the Donetsk region) was considered safe enough to serve as a regional base where journalists and humanitarian workers could stay overnight. Its road and rail links the central city of Dnipro with Kramatorsk and Slavic. His capture would actually cut the part of the Donetsk region still in the hands of Ukraine into two parts," writes The Guardian.

Although the Ukrainian soldiers in the northeast of Sumy region are quite satisfied with the result, the newspaper notes, it is not difficult to find doubters of the overall strategy.

"We have to protect what we have. The offensive on Kursk takes away good soldiers from Pokrovsk, and if it distracts part of the Russian troops, it only transfers the problem of their numbers from one place to another," said infantryman Alexei.

There are persistent rumors, writes the British edition, that the popular commander of the 80 brigade, Emil Ishkulov, was removed from his post at the end of July because he was against the invasion of Although he was not sure that his unit had the strength to carry out this task.