Quotes
We need to inflict significant tactical defeats on Russia,
Podolyak wrote on the Telegram messaging app Observe who is here and who is not."
While one-third of them [the armoured vehicles] are restraining the stronghold, the others are bypassing it by entering nearby settlements and organising ambushes.”
A Russian military blogger, Rybar, semi-independent of the Kremlin, summarising the approach said We arrived on Monday last week. It had been equipped two days before that,
a surgeon told the Guardian between puffs on a cigarette The US leadership’s claims of non-involvement in Kyiv's actions in the Kursk region do not correspond to reality... Without their participation and direct support, Kyiv would not have ventured into Russian territory.”
If [Ukraine’s] successful military operation in Kursk was a slap to Putin, then the invitation of CST [forces] would be a second slap,
Dosym Satpayev, an analyst based in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s financial centre, told Al Jazeera The CST was actively advertised as a structure where Russia is the main security umbrella for all member states,
Things are very harsh these days – you either root for the US and their policies, or for Russia,
a businessman in Almaty who requested anonymity told Al Jazeera Ukraine’s example shows that when you have an aggressive neighbour such as Russia, you have to always keep your powder dry,
Moscow wouldn’t mind if the forces [of CST member states] could contribute to solving its problems, but they obviously wouldn’t go to Kursk even if summoned,
Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s Bremen University, told Al Jazeera I really, really pity those who live in the counterterrorism zone in Kursk,
Madina, who withheld her last name and location because her relatives still live in Chechnya, told Al Jazeera The very term makes me convulse,
Madina, a Chechen refugee living in a European nation, told Al Jazeera As long as Russia’s political regime isn’t under threat, no one is going to think about expressing a definite position, because such a position limits wiggle room,
Please transfer us to medical schools in Uzbekistan,
The Kremlin and the Russian military command are creating a complicated, overlapping, and so far, ineffective command and control structure for the Russian response to the Ukrainian incursion in Kursk Oblast,
the ISW wrote in its most recent assessment of the offensive Russia is still piecing together its response to Ukraine's invasion. So far, it has only been a rather slow and scattered reaction."
During a Tuesday event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, General Christopher Cavoli said This is clearly a much bigger operation than initially was understood. Like the attempted coup by Yevgeny Prigozhin last June, it weakens the leader politically (although maybe only temporarily),
The MoD's coordination council and the FSB's counterterrorism operation will likely generate continued confusion about what structures are responsible for what aspects of the Russian defensive operation in Kursk Oblast and will likely lead to friction between the FSB and the Russian military,
Russia does not establish who has authority,
It is apparent to us that Mr Putin and the Russian military are diverting some resources, some units, towards the Kursk Oblast to ostensibly counter what the Ukrainians are doing,
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday