After launching the first invasion into Russia since World War II,  Ukraine’s objective’s for its Kursk incursion are coming into view. 

The almost two week old campaign was barely acknowledged by Ukraine initially–but president Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently laid out some of the goals his forces are trying to achieve. 

For starters, Ukraine needs to shore up its political support.  Zlenskyy said its essential Ukraine enters the fall even stronger than before, so taking Russian territory, and capturing Russian soldiers, is a good way for Kyiv to show its supporters it can win the war.

Zelenskyy, and plenty of others, are also pointing to the incursion as the latest proof Russia’s red lines are, more or less, bombastic bluffs. 

Time and time again–Vladimir Putin and his cronies in the Kremlin said Moscow would be forced to use nuclear weapons if Ukraine received certain items from the west–like artillery, tanks, air defense systems, and F-16s. Even with parts of its own territory under siege, and hundreds of thousands of its own people displaced,  which was another russian redline Moscow is seemingly no nearer a nuclear launch today than when the war began two years ago. 

Two more objectives for Ukraine during this attack 

Create dilemmas for Russia and a defensive buffer zone for ukraine. 

This is a map of the  area, showing the battle lines and regions of control. 

The dark areas here and here are the Donbas and Crimea, which Russia illegally seized in 2014. These areas shaded in red are the other contested parts of ukraine russia is trying to take.

Now, in the East–Russia is coming very close to making significant tactical gains. Ukraine doesn’t want that to happen. 

This is where Ukraine’s incursion into Russia is taking place… The dilemma for Russia is should it keep up the pressure in the Donbas–or reposition troops and equipment to expel the foreign invaders in Kursk. It can do both for now–but not forever. 

Because both of these campaigns are going to take huge investments in resources and manpower. 

As it stands right now, Ukraine has the momentum in Kursk. No doubt. 

In the last 72 hours–Ukrainian artillery took out three bridges over the Seym River. Essentially cutting off the Russian forces in this area, setting up a cauldron, with very little hope of escaping. 

And if Ukraine can build on the success it’s seeing in Kursk, and expand it’s area of control in Russia, that pushes back Russia’s offensive capabilities, thus creating a buffer zone for the Ukrainian villages along the border region. With the buffer zone would come more dilemmas for Russia as well. Like how to expel a foreign force, without destroying your own towns and villages with wave after wave of artillery. 

For Straight Arrow News, I’m Ryan Robertson. We have more stories about the war in Ukraine on our website, san.com, you can also get them right on your phone with the Straight Arrow News app.