RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Russia will ‘finish off’ Kiev’s forces – Putin
President Vladimir Putin has declared that Russian forces are gaining momentum across the entire line of contact and could soon “finish off” Ukraine’s military, while commenting on attempts by Kiev’s European backers to derail a diplomatic resolution of the conflict.
The Russian president made the remarks on Thursday during a meeting with the crew of the Arkhangelsk nuclear submarine, which is equipped with Zircon hypersonic missiles. Putin reiterated that Moscow has always sought to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means but was met with deception and obstruction from the West – first with the failed Minsk Agreements and then during the 2022 Istanbul peace talks.
“Their European handlers… convinced the Ukrainian leadership that they had to continue armed resistance, essentially to the last Ukrainian, with the goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia,”he said.
Putin accused Western leaders – specifically former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson – of underestimating Russia’s resolve, and warned that the country’s military capabilities should not be taken lightly.
“He must have forgotten that there are people like you – and weapons like your submarine,”Putin told the naval crew. “Apparently, he forgot, or maybe they simply do not understand what the Russian people are made of.”
The Russian president said the conflict is reaching a turning point and expressed confidence in the outcome, noting that “across the entire line of combat engagement, our troops hold the strategic initiative.”
Not long ago I said, ‘We’ll squeeze them.’ Now there’s reason to believe we’ll finish them off. Then, I think a moment of realization must come to the Ukrainian people themselves.
Despite his hardline tone, Putin reiterated that Russia remains open to peace negotiations – as long as the core causes of the conflict are addressed.
“We are in favor of resolving these issues by peaceful means… But the root causes must be eliminated. We must ensure Russia’s security for the long historical perspective,” he said.
Russia has repeatedly stated that it is open to peace talks, but insists that a true settlement of the conflict requires a permanent and legally-binding solution. Moscow opposes any NATO presence on Ukrainian soil and has demanded that Kiev demilitarize, denazify, adhere to a position of neutrality, and recognize the territorial “realities on the ground.”
On March 18, the Russian military was ordered to refrain from attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure under a deal agreed upon by President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defense has since reported multiple Ukrainian violations, which it described as attempts to undermine Trump’s mediation efforts.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Months after first incursion, Ukrainian troops fighting in second Russian region
Just as Ukrainian forces are losing their grip on the pocket of Russia's Kursk region they captured last year, they have staged a little-publicised incursion into the adjacent Belgorod region, according to Russian military bloggers.
Several Russian military correspondents said on Friday that Ukrainian troops were inside Belgorod and fighting battles with Russian forces there.
Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has confirmed the reports, though Russia's Defence Ministry said 10 days ago its forces had thwarted five Ukrainian attempts to push across the border in Belgorod.
Ukraine's military has not commented on any thrust into Belgorod region, though that could be for operational security reasons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, addressing reporters in Kyiv, said Ukrainian forces had taken "certain steps" in Russia outside the Kursk region to ease pressure on Ukrainian troops in the area.
Zelenskiy said the action was intended to "reduce the accumulation" of Russian troops and had occurred "a little below the Kursk region." He did not elaborate.
Andrii Kovalenko, an official at Ukraine's National Defence and Security Council, suggested in a March 18 statement that Ukrainian forces could act in the Belgorod region, "neutralising threats" from Russian forces that might mass near the border.
Rybar, a Russian military blog with 1.3 million subscribers, said there had been heavy clashes in a settlement called Popovka and each side was hitting the other with drones. Another Telegram account, Two Majors, said Russian forces were conducting "defensive operations."
"There are constant strikes on concentrations of Ukrainian Armed Forces, but the enemy still has serious offensive potential for this direction and has not abandoned plans for further breakthroughs, including in new areas of the front," it said.
A third military blog, Arkhangel Spetsnaza, reported fighting in a village called Demidovka and said some Ukrainian soldiers were surrounded there.
Reuters could not independently confirm the accounts.
The Ukrainian operation may be an attempt to distract Russian forces as they try to drive out the last Ukrainian forces from neighbouring Kursk. One of the Russian blogs, Rybar, said Russia had moved reinforcements to Belgorod from Goptarovka in the Kursk region.
Emil Kastehelmi, a military analyst with the Finnish-based Black Bird Group, said Ukrainian forces had penetrated the first Russian defences and advanced most likely to a depth of three to four km (1.9 to 2.5 miles).
But he said it was unlikely they could stage a serious breakthrough and threaten any important Russian logistical routes or cities.
"The Ukrainians can, in theory, take some more villages from the border area, but that's not what a breakthrough means - it'd be a small tactical success, but there's very little to be achieved in the Demidovka direction at operational or strategic level," he told Reuters.
"There's no proper element of surprise, and the Russian presence in the area is strong enough to at least conduct mostly successful defensive operations."
In Kursk, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday its forces had recaptured the village of Gogolevka, one of only a handful of settlements still held by Ukraine out of around 100 that it seized last August.
Ukraine's General Staff said its military had stopped 18 Russian assaults in Kursk region over the past day.
Open source mapping from Deep State, an authoritative Ukrainian military blogging resource, showed Russian forces in control of some but not all of Gogolevka, and indicated Kyiv's troops still controlled just under 80 sq km (31 sq miles) of Kursk.
President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk this month in a sign of increasing confidence that Russia will shortly win it back, depriving Ukraine of a bargaining chip in future peace talks.
RT/Reuters
