The unprecedented assault entered its fourth day Friday with Moscow rushing reinforcements and bombing its own territory to try to contain the Ukrainian advance.
A convoy of burnt-out military trucks, some bearing the “Z” symbol of the Kremlin’s war and appearing to contain bodies, sits along the side of a highway.
The video, circulating on social media Friday and geolocated by NBC News, doesn’t show a beleaguered section of the front lines in eastern Ukraine. It is a village in Kursk, across the border in southern Russia.
For days now Vladimir Putin’s forces have struggled to put down an incursion into Russian territory by Ukrainian troops, after a surprise attack that threatened to upend the war’s status quo and open a new front in a daring challenge to the Kremlin.
The best reason I’ve heard speculated is that Russia has stopped doing big advances, which will make it much harder for Ukraine to force losses in a war of attrition. By opening up this front they’re forcing the Kremlin to throw more soldiers at them to be ground into sunflower fertilizer.
Yeah, they were about to run out of steam on their offensive and were about to convert to a defensive footing, which would give them an advantage. Taking Russian territory forces the Russians to keep going on the offensive, which could strain them and prevent them from building up their manpower/equipment as much while on the defensive. There’s no way Putin can allow sovereign Russian territory to be taken by another country. It’s a bold move and I hope it pays off.