Mykhailo Podolyak @Podolyak_M, an adviser to Zelensky, said the Kursk operation is needed to convince Russia to start fair talks.

x.com ^ | Aug 16, 2024 | Mykhailo Podolyak @Podolyak_M

[ransomnote]

Ukraine is not interested in occupying Russian territories. This is obvious. Because #Ukraine is waging an exclusively defensive war strictly within the framework of international law... But if we are talking about potential negotiations – I emphasize potential – we will have to put #Rf at the table opposite. On our own terms. We have absolutely no plans to beg: "Please, sit down to negotiate". Instead, we have proven, effective means of coercion.

In addition to economic and diplomatic ones, this is also a military tool. We need to inflict significant tactical defeats on #Russia. In the Kursk region, we can clearly see how the military tool is being used objectively to persuade Rf to enter a fair negotiation process. Once again, to enter into a negotiation process, not the traditional Russian propaganda and capitulation blackmail...

An important tool is also the influence on public opinion within Russia, which is beginning to change when the war has come deep into their territory. It is a fact that until recently, citizens of the aggressor country generally remained indifferent to the hostilities because they took place in Ukraine.

There is a certain illusion among our Western allies that there is a discussion among Russians about the war. No, there are no such discussions; political issues are not discussed there at all. The Russians did not talk about the war and felt quite comfortable because death and destruction were raging far away from them.

When the war came to their territory, the Russians were obviously scared. They are shocked. Although the battles in the Kursk region are referred to on television as the “known situation in the Borderland," families and friends began to whisper about the real situation at the front. Negative changes in the psychological state of the Russian population will be another argument for the start of negotiations.

4:52 AM · Aug 16, 2024

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[ransomnote]

Sorry for the repetition (some content also in post 1). I didn’t realize I was posting on the same thread again. :/

[Kazan]

@Podolyak_M, an adviser to Zelensky, said the Kursk operation is needed to convince Russia to start fair talks

What did it do instead?

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/08/ukraine-sitrep-kursk-attack-derailed-partitial-ceasefire-deal.html#more

The Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk oblast has even worse consequences for Ukraine than had been known so far.

Over the last six months, in revenge for Ukrainian attacks on Russian infrastructure, especially oil refineries, the Russian forces created serious damage on Ukraine's electricity network. Nearly every conventional power generation facility in Ukraine has been damaged. Half of Ukraine's 18 Gigawatts of electricity generation capacity has been taken offline. The damaged power stations were often also used to provide heating to large blocks of Soviet type apartments. Without power and heating it will be a very difficult winter for many people in Ukraine.

There was interest on both sides to stop the campaigns against the other sides infrastructure. An agreement about it was in the making and was possible. But, as Washington Post reports, the Ukrainian attack on Kursk blew it apart:

Ukraine and Russia were set to send delegations to Doha this month to negotiate a landmark agreement halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both sides, diplomats and officials familiar with the discussions said, in what would have amounted to a partial cease-fire and offered a reprieve for both countries.

But the indirect talks, with the Qataris serving as mediators and meeting separately with the Ukrainian and Russian delegations, were derailed by Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region last week, according to the officials.

...

The diplomat familiar with the talks said that Qatar has been discussing the arrangement for an energy strike moratorium with Kyiv and Moscow for the past two months. The official said the two sides agreed to a summit in Doha with just minor details left to be worked out.

“After Kursk, the Russians balked,” another person familiar with the talks said.

[DonaldC]

No worries, thanks for the reply info!