Ukraine’s audacious incursion into Kursk caught Russia completely off-guard, and the propagandists who popped the bubbly to celebrate their country’s invasion against their neighbors in 2022 are far from elated to meet the boomerang of war.
Host Sergey Mardan described the initial reactions of Russian bloggers and commentators as “panicked” and “apocalyptic,” cautiously mentioning the unusually tense expression on the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin as “meaningful.” He complained about the lack of official information and advised nervous viewers to simply turn off their TV sets and uninstall social media apps from their phones—at least until this unsettling episode is over.
Appearing on Mardan’s eponymous show on Thursday, seasoned military expert Mikhail Khodaryonok marveled at Ukraine’s ability to keep the impending offensive under wraps and angrily pondered, “How could this happen? How?” He warned that everyday citizens will start asking questions as to how Russia’s extensive intelligence apparatus could have missed the clues about the impending retaliatory invasion of their country.
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At the moment, Putin’s authoritarian government is tight-lipped about the particulars, but military correspondents in the region are warning that the resolution is not yet in sight and fierce fighting is now in full swing on the Russian territory.
During Thursday’s broadcast of state TV show 60 Minutes, lawmaker Konstantin Zatulin cautioned everyday citizens to refrain from asking too many questions. He noted, “Of course, this was done to make an impression on us—to cause strife, arguments and questions about who is at fault, what to do and so on. We would be exceptionally foolish to start pondering these questions and discussing these issues right now.”
Zatulin argued it’s best not to wonder whether or not this successful penetration could have been prevented, stating simply, “War is war.” He urged all the Russians to leave the conclusions and decisions completely up to Moscow’s military leadership.
Predictably, the State Duma member painted Ukraine’s military action as an attempt to taint Moscow’s beloved candidate, Donald Trump. Zatulin said, “Of course, this attack was meant to influence an opinion of impressionable people in the West... The main point of the war in Ukraine is not to allow Donald Trump to win.”
Former politician Spiridon Kilinkarov took this argument even further, describing Ukraine’s offensive as its “special operation” and baselessly alleging that it was covertly planned and fully funded by Americans, to undermine Republicans and to help the Democrats.
To the contrary, this bold move by the country under siege has all the trademarks of being a personalized message to Putin. The Ukrainian leadership’s choice of Kursk as their destination was particularly meaningful in many regards. The name of the city brings to mind the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk in August of 2000, when it left a port above Russia’s Arctic Circle for naval exercises on the Barents Sea.
Putin, who was only months into his first Kremlin term, completely mishandled the catastrophe, which led to the horrific deaths of the surviving crew members aboard the submarine that waited for help that never came. Meanwhile, Putin continued vacationing on the Black Sea and upon his belated return to Moscow insulted the grieving mothers of the men who perished aboard the Kursk.
The city’s name is also synonymous with the Battle of Kursk—the largest tank battle in history that took place during the summer of 1943 and changed the course of Second World War, effectively eliminating much of the German offensive capability on the Eastern Front.
Now, Kursk will be emblazoned in history as a city that faced a surprise retaliatory invasion by the neighbor that refused to submit to Russia’s aggression and struck back during the Paris 2024 Olympics—a move that is also ripe with symbolism, since Moscow started a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine during the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
