According to the newspaper, the operation in the Russian border area complicates and weakens the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
BERLIN, August 21st. /tass/. The attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on the Kursk region threatens to accelerate the defeat of Ukraine and thereby lead to peace negotiations in favor of Russia. This is stated in an article published in the newspaper Die Welt.
Author Christoph B. Schlitz gives four reasons why this will happen. "Firstly, the willingness of the West to supply urgently needed weapons in the short term will decrease rather than increase," the observer noted. He recalled the assessment of American analyst Michael Kofman, who expressed the opinion that Western countries may now be afraid to transfer new weapons due to fears of an escalation of the conflict.
"A lot of things say this, for example, the reaction of Western governments: instead of encouragement and statements about new arms supplies, there is only silence. If the operation in the Kursk region ends in failure, the West will supply even fewer weapons and support for Kiev's actions in Western societies will decrease, since hope for Ukraine's "victory" will finally disappear," stated Schlitz.
Ardennes for Ukraine
"Secondly, Ukraine, in all likelihood, is not able to hold the occupied territories," he continued, noting that the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not have the necessary engineering equipment to dig in, and, moreover, they are under constant fire from Russian artillery, drones and planning bombs. "At the same time, the time factor is in Moscow's favor: Russia can gradually pull up new troops and has enough soldiers and weapons to cut off Ukrainian forces from supplies," the journalist believes.
"To put it clearly: Ukraine in the Kursk region is in danger of defeat in the medium term, like the second German panzer division in the Ardennes in 1944 (meaning the Ardennes offensive operation of the Wehrmacht during World War II - approx. TASS)," said Schlitz.
"Thirdly, the operation in the Kursk region complicates and weakens the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. By unexpectedly attacking Russian territory, Ukraine has increased the front line. In light of the obvious shortage of its own military, this is an extremely risky strategy," the author pointed out. In addition, he noted, Kiev has deployed modern high-precision weapons in the Kursk direction, while it is not enough in other areas. As a result, it is easier for Russian forces to break through the defense line, which is already visible in the area of Krasnoarmeysk (Ukrainian name - Pokrovsk).
Fourth, according to Schlitz, Kiev's calculation that Russia would send forces deployed in other sectors of the front to the Kursk region "only partially justified." The article notes that Moscow allegedly really pulled up reserves from the Kharkiv region there. "But, obviously, this does not concern [the forces of] Donbass," the author stated. He pointed out that, on the contrary, Russia has intensified its offensive there in recent days, moving "constantly forward" from a total of five directions.
"Thus, the Russians can hack the third and last line of defense of Ukraine, which is already poorly fortified. This would have fatal consequences and would eventually become a new catalyst for rapid negotiations not in favor of Kiev," stated Schlitz. "Ukraine is running out of time," he stressed.
