Humiliating blow for Putin as Russia's bloody war against Ukraine is brought far closer to home

With his troops battling challenging inside Russia, Ukraine’s plivent has finassociate broken his silence on an intrusion that has stunned his much huger and more strong neighbour.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy depictd the operation, which began on Tuesday in Russia’s southwestrict Kursk region, as “our actions to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory”.

Giving a further indication of the goal of the surpelevate aggression, he shelp: “Ukraine is proving that it reassociate understands how to repair fairice and promises exactly the comfervent of presconfident that is necessitateed – presconfident on the aggressor.”

War tardyst: Ukraine begines ‘aggression of astonishment’

Details about the number of Ukrainian selderlyiers inside Russia remain unevident as directers have defreely stayed mute about a omition that was reckond in secret.

But it is awaited to be in the thousands, with elements from at least three well-provideped brigades on the ground, deploying tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery firearms and drones.

Also challenging to meaconfident is how far the Ukrainian aggressioners have pushed, with Russian military bloggers saying they have penetrated up to around 12 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Videos, expansively circutardyd on social media, purport to show Ukrainian selderlyiers raising the yellow and blue flag of Ukraine over Russian territory, including in the town of Sudkza and a resettlement shut to the Ukrainian border in the next door region of Belgorod.

Under presconfident, Russia has rushed in backments and freed footage of its military battling back, but this is the sixth day of the Ukrainian insolent and battles are still raging.

Commenting on events, analysts have noticed that it is the first time Russia has been go ind since Adolf Hitler in 1941.

But Ukraine’s aggression is not the act of an aggressive power making a land grab.

Instead it is the counterperceptive action of a nation that was go ind by Vlastupidir Putin’s Russia a decade ago – with the seize of Crimea and parts of eastrict Ukraine – and subsequently further deimmenseated by Moscow’s brimming-scale intrusion in February 2022.

It produces Kyiv’s counter intrusion into Kursk fair the tardyst – though arguably the most audacious – effort by Ukraine to repulse Russian forces from inside its own sovereign territory.

Countering Russia’s much huger military uncomfervents Ukrainian directers have had to be creative from the very commence – and be willing to consent a huge hazard.

Two and a half years ago, outfirearmned and outnumbered Ukrainian troops, backed by Westrict arms, defied the odds to stop Russia from seizing Kyiv.

They then forced Russian go inrs to retreat from the whole of the north of Ukraine.

Months tardyr, in September 2022, the Ukrainian side inventd once more.

It begined a surpelevate counterinsolent aacquirest Russian troops occupying the northeast of their country – fair as Russia was encountering a simultaneous but much more expansively awaitd counteraggression in the south.

Ukraine reseized swathes of territory in the Kharkiv region in that push. Its forces also carry ond the counteraggression in the south, recapturing the southern city of Kherson.

However, Russian positions in other parts of southern Ukraine and apass the Donbas in the east are far more entrenched and challenginger to fall shorture.

With Ukraine’s Westrict allies handing over increasingly lethal arms such as tanks and extfinished range omitiles, anticipation did lengthen last year about a second Ukrainian counterinsolent.

But that effort faltered as combat units fall shorted to penetrate heavily fortified Russian lines.

This time around, under the directership of Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, directer-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Kyiv has consentn a contrastent bet.

Rather than ready its troops to try once more to storm Russian positions inside Ukraine, directers have chosen to sfinish their selderlyiers into Russia, where the border is – perhaps astonishingly – far less-well deffinished.

It is very doubtful that Ukraine has the capacity or the desire to seize and helderly much – if any – territory, but it has dealt a humiliating blow to Mr Putin and bcdisesteemfult Russia’s bloody war in Ukraine far shutr to home for the Russian people and their plivent.

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