UKRAINE: THE SITUATION 882 - AUGUST 12, 2024

The Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to present himself as an effective and competent manager of the situation at the Ukrainian-Russian border, shifting the responsibility for the ongoing challenges in response to the Ukrainian invasion in the region to other Russian military and government officials.

The Kremlin's decision to release footage showing Putin rebuking senior Russian officials is likely a warning to other Russian authorities to refrain from commenting on the Ukrainian incursion into Russia.

Putin assigned overlapping tasks in the Ukrainian-Russian border area to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Federal Security Service (FSB), and Rosgvardia - further evidence of the difficulties facing Russian troops in the Kursk region in establishing joint command and control structures necessary for coordinating operations.

Putin has made several assessments of Ukrainian operations in the Kursk region, including one that undermined the Kremlin's long-standing information campaign falsely portraying Ukraine as unwilling to engage in legitimate, good-faith negotiations and shifting the responsibility for peace talks to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian forces appear to be advancing further in the Kursk region, despite recent claims by Milblogger that Russian forces had stabilized the front line in the Kursk region. Regional Russian government officials seem to openly assess the current Ukrainian advance.

Senior Ukrainian officials reported on the ongoing Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region and warned that Russian forces in the Kursk region could commit war crimes to discredit Ukraine and Western support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces are said to have carried out a drone attack on a Russian airbase in the Moscow region on the night of August 11-12.

The full Russian Offensive Update 882 is available directly from UNDERSTANDING WAR.

UNDERSTANDING WAR