CIA Deputy Director David Cohen assessed that Ukrainian troops intend to hold the occupied territories in southwestern Russia for some time, which will not be easy. He added that a Russian counteroffensive should be expected in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces are operating.
Deputy Director CIA David Cohen, who took part in the American security industry conference in Bethesda, Maryland, also noted that Vladimir Putin will have to “take into account the reaction of society to the occupation of part of Russia by the Ukrainian army.”
Fighting continues in Kursk OblastPAP/EPA/GEORGE IVANCHENKO
At the same time, the deputy director of the CIA said that the recent Russian territorial gains in the direction of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region have been paid for with great losses and are of no great strategic significance.
On Wednesday, the president Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky after talking with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Syrsky, he stated that the situation around Pokrovsk and in other sections of the front in the Donetsk region is “extremely difficult.” He added that Russian troops are concentrating their main efforts there.
Ukrainian offensive on Russian territory
The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an offensive operation in Kursk Oblast on August 6. Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief General Oleksandr Syrsky reported on Tuesday that the area occupied in the Oblast is 1,294 square kilometers, and the number of Ukrainian-controlled localities has increased to 100.
On Tuesday, there was information that Ukrainian soldiers also attacked the Belgorod region in Russia.
Main image source: PAP/EPA/GEORGE IVANCHENKO