In the aftermath of the daring strike through a 12-km tunnel march that reads more like military science fiction than military history, the Russians have precipitated the collapse of the Kursk incursion into Russia by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as Simplicius reports:
The AFU lost about 33% of their Kursk holdings in a day:
Ukrainian forces now “control” less than 230km² of Kursk Oblast, down from 360km² just 24 hours ago.
Everything was getting in on the action, including Ka-52s and, as claimed, even Russian UCAV drones. This video is purported to show the Forpost dropping laser-guided Kab-20 bombs on retreating AFU vehicles and infantry. This makes sense as Kursk is the one region where Russian UCAVs can operate without fearing a Ukrainian AD presence.
Rada MP Goncharenko showed panic:
We now have three options:
- Peace
- Losing
- Defeat and surrender
Unfortunately, the government is leading us to the second and third options.
As he mentions, Ukraine is now trying to make up with Trump, with the two set for a conciliatory Saudi Arabia meeting this week. The purpose of it, from the Trump side, is to “gauge” how amenable Zelensky now is to peace—i.e. whether he’s changed his tune after being given a slap on the wrist. And a slap it was, because word has it Trump has now implied that the intelligence pause may soon be overturned:
Trump says US has ‘almost’ ended pause in sharing intelligence on Ukraine — Bloomberg
▪️The publication reports that when asked by media representatives whether Trump intends to lift the suspension, he replied: “We almost did it.”
▪️The lifting of the ban on intelligence sharing comes as talks in Saudi Arabia are underway to determine, in part, whether Ukraine is willing to make significant concessions to Russia to end the war.
▪️In addition to peace talks, the fate of the mineral deal between Washington and Kiev also hangs in Jeddah.
▪️The US President also expressed optimism about the talks. “I believe we will make great progress this week,” he said.
This makes an important point: how can Russia possibly trust its most dire and existential security guarantees to such a flip-flopping administration, which can promise one thing and deliver another moments later? It only goes to show that Russia should ignore all overtures and flourishes from Trump and his team, and continue prosecuting the campaign to its finish. There is simply no fool-proof deals to be had with an exceptionalist, schizophrenic US at the terminal stage of its Imperial arc. And perhaps that is precisely what Russia is doing, as we continue to see evidence Russia may be preparing for further expansions of its military objectives.
As I have repeatedly stated since February 2022, Ukraine must surrender unconditionally or the tragedy will proceed to its inevitable end with the unnecessary loss of far more lives. The Russians have proven their limited demands will be considerably more reasonable than both the Europeans and the neocons, and everything they demand used to be theirs anyhow. Ukraine doesn’t need Odessa to survive and thrive as the eastern border of continental Europe, but it does need to exist if it wishes to do so.