The whole world is talking about the quite unbelievable 'Trojan Pipeline' attack by Russian special forces on Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk. Up to 800 Russian special forces crept 16 km inside an unused 1.4 meter gas pipeline to attack Ukrainian troops from the rear.
The rout of Ukrainian troops from Kursk is almost complete. Hundreds if not thousands of Ukrainian troops have been taken prisoner and thousands more have been killed.
When Ukraine first attacked and invaded Russian territory in Kursk in August last year the Russians did not resist as much and allowed Ukraine to occupy about 1,000 sq km of their territory. The entire civilian population of Kursk was evacuated to the east - as if in preparation for the incursion. The Kursk 'incursion' provided a huge propaganda win for Russia - they were no more the 'aggressor' occupying Ukrainian territory. Now it was Ukraine that was occupying about 1,000 sq km of Russian territor
And Kursk became a set piece meat grinder to harrass and destroy Ukrainian troops and equipment. 50,000 or more Ukrainian troops have been killed in Kursk alone since August last year (Colonel Douglas Macgregor).
President Putin was hoping to negotiate a ceasefire upon his terms. He will still do that. Mr Putin wants a complete settlement including unfreezing Russian cash and assets in the West, removing the economic sanctions etc. The main kickoff for the ceasefire was and still is the arrival of the new president in Washington. However the resistance from France, the UK, Germany and a few other countries in the EU has slowed down the process. The UK and France now want to fight the war in Ukraine on their own - without American assistance, which has effectively stopped. The EU wants to fight Russia forever. And Europe has split from the US.
I believe the 'urgency' has changed. Mr Putin is now trying to win as much territory as possible not only to be used as bargaining chips for a ceasefire but to also assist President Trump exert pressure on Europe to negotiate a peace with Russia. Otherwise Russia will take more territory in Ukraine.
Which is why after skirmishing with Ukrainian troops inside Kursk for seven months, the Russians have suddenly got up and chased the Ukrainians out of Kursk in about SEVEN days. The Ukrainians have almost completely been driven out of Kursk.
Russian forces are also advancing aggressively all along the 1000 km line of contact and are making major gains from the north to the south. If they continue at this pace they will soon be at the gates of Kiev again. This time they will not be tricked into withdrawing (which happened once before).
If Russia takes all of Ukraine or is able to impose an unconditional surrender on Ukraine or is able to exact all its terms for a ceasefire it is most likely that Keir Starmer, Macron and some other European heads will have to resign in embarrassment.
This is indeed the Mother of all Wars again.
As my friend Norman Fernandez said, Vladimir Putin may then be called upon to negotiate a peace agreement between President Donald Trump and the Europeans. (Thats just a joke).
