The Ukrainian army is able to consolidate occupied areas in the Russian region of Kursk. A politician from Kiev joins the invading forces.
Kursk – Moscow apparently did not expect this: Russia appears to have been taken by surprise by the Kursk offensive. The invading Ukrainian troops have advanced deep into the border region in recent days.
Kursk offensive in Ukraine: Kyiv politician follows soldiers to Russia
Kiev is counting this as a major military success in the Ukraine war, although until Wednesday (August 13) it was completely unclear how the estimated 1,000 of its own soldiers on Russian soil would be protected in the long term against the expected regional Russian counter-offensive. So far, this has probably been done during the Kursk offensive by the HIMARS multiple rocket launchers from Ukraine.
While it remains to be seen whether the Ukrainian units in the Kursk Oblast will not simply be overrun by the sheer mass of newly assembled Russian troops, a well-known member of the Ukrainian parliament has apparently joined the Ukrainian soldiers in Russia.
Ukraine offensive in Russia: Kyiv MP Roman Kostenko is in the middle of it
We are talking about Roman Kostenko. And the politician is no stranger in his home country beyond his work in parliament. Since the annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in spring 2014, which was illegal under international law, and the uprising of pro-Russian separatists in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the summer of the same year, which was presumably controlled by Moscow, the now 40-year-old parliamentarian has repeatedly fought as a volunteer on the side of the Ukrainian army for the sovereignty of Ukraine. This time, too, he will probably do so in mid-summer 2024 during the Kursk offensive, this time on Russian territory.
Kostenko posted a video on social media that supposedly shows him at the Russian border. Ukrainian military bloggers eagerly shared the images – for example on X. According to the translation of the account “OSINTtechnical”, Kostenko informed his colleagues in parliament that he had no time for legislative votes for the time being because he wanted to join the Ukrainian offensive in Russia. Kostenko has been a member of the Verkhovna Rada, the official name of the parliament, since August 2019 for the liberal and pro-European Holos party. In the war with the Moscow regime, he already fought in the so-called Second Battle of Donetsk Airport between September 2014 and January 2015.
Kursk offensive of the Ukrainian army: Politician with battle name “Thunder” involved
He was awarded the Order of Merit “Bohdan Khmelnytsky” for his efforts; his battle name in the Ukrainian army is “Thunder”. Since the surprise attack on August 6, the Ukrainians say they have captured around 1,000 square kilometers of land in the Russian Kursk Oblast.
According to videos, the combat-hardened soldiers deployed are equipped with lightly armored Humvee military jeeps and Stryker infantry fighting vehicles. In other areas of the region in the far west of the Russian Federation, the Putin regime is currently amassing troops for an expected counterattack, equipped with tanks, among other things. (pm)
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