Vladimir Putin has sought to shift blame for Ukraine’s surprise incursion into the Kursk region, as evidence emerged that his country’s handling of the offensive was damaging the Russian leader’s image.
At a virtual meeting held by Putin Thursday on the situation in Russia’s Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions, which border Ukraine, the president told regional officials that the “security issues” in Kursk “are problems that are the responsibility of the security agencies.”
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP/Getty Images
Kyiv launched its surprise incursion into Kursk, which borders Ukraine’s Sumy region, on August 6. Since then, Ukrainian forces have seized control of 1,250 square kilometers (482 square miles) of Russian territory and 92 settlements, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday.
The scale of the offensive is significant—Ukraine is reported to have seized more territory in the Kursk region than Russia has captured in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. It also marks the first time that foreign troops have seized Russian territory since World War II.
Russia’s military has also been forced to scramble to deploy additional resources to the region, diverting manpower away from the war it started in Ukraine in February 2022.
Regional officials told Putin on Thursday that 115,000 Kursk residents have so far been evacuated from their homes due to the incursion.
“I hope that, as was reported today, interaction between local and regional authorities, the government, and security agencies has been established, and this will also play a positive role in achieving the goals that we have here,” Putin told the governors of the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions, and Kremlin officials.
Putin is reported to have ordered his forces to push back Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region by October 1, according to RBC Ukraine.
The incursion has made Putin “nervous,” independent Russian news outlet The Moscow Times reported, citing unnamed Kremlin officials.
Newsweek has contacted Russia’s Defense Ministry for comment by email.
Ukraine’s armored assault in Kursk has damaged Putin’s image overall, Russian investigative site Agentstvo reported late Thursday, citing an increase in negative and critical comments from Russians on social media.
Many pro-war military bloggers have voiced their discontent on Telegram at how swiftly Kyiv’s forces seized Russian territory.
One Russian military blogger called the situation “hell on earth” and suggested that the assault had been long-planned.
“We knew that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would go to Kursk Oblast. We knew that they were pulling forces together. We knew everything as usual, the guys from the fields reported it, but the higher-ups did nothing,” pro-war blogger Anastasia Kashevarova said on Telegram.
Military blogger Ravreba said there is “a complete disregard for the state of war in Moscow” and complained that “it is more convenient for the new Minister of Defense to calculate how much the grandfathers stole than to kick generals who do something only when they are bent over with a whip and an ax.”
Kremlin propagandist Sergey Mardan also described the incursion as “chaos” during a show he hosted on Solovyov Live, days after the incursion was launched.
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