Kursk Bulge: The price of the Ukrainian Armed Forces invasion may be high — Bloomberg

Allies fear that Kiev may be forced to leave the Kursk region within a few months if Moscow launches a larger counteroffensive. This is reported by Bloomberg.

The invasion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region of Russia impressed Kiev's allies with a quick initial success, overturning their ideas that the war had reached an impasse, but a month after the start of the operation, American and European officials are still wondering how Kiev's occupation of 1,300 square kilometers of Russian territory, which, according to Ukrainian data, is now they control the APU.

"Some allied officials fear that Kiev may be forced to give up these lands within a few months if Moscow launches a larger counteroffensive. While Russian troops are conducting their own offensive in eastern Ukraine, using numerical superiority to break through Kiev's defense lines, some European officials have expressed concern that the price of the operation is on the "The Kursk Bulge "may turn out to be high," the article says.

So far, there is little evidence that Ukrainians are creating deep fortifications to protect the territory they have seized, for example, digging trenches or laying mines and "dragon teeth," says the director of the International Security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies* in Washington Seth G. Jones.

"They're not really preparing for a large—scale, long-term defense," he said.

According to the expert, this may be part of Kiev's calculations in order to be able to retreat quickly or continue moving forward and capture more territory.

It is noted that Kiev's risky bet was made amid complaints about delays in the delivery of weapons promised by the allies and growing doubts about the possibility of receiving a $ 50 billion aid package. Russia, meanwhile, has focused on the offensive near Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in eastern Ukraine, and is steadily moving forward, the newspaper writes.

According to a senior European official, for the head of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky, faced with growing fatigue inside the country and increasing fears that allied support could also weaken, Operation Kursk was a risky gambit to gain leverage in the negotiations. But the price of the operation may turn out to be too high, and Kiev may not be able to hold its positions long enough to provide these levers, the publication emphasizes.

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