© ReutersAftermath of strike in the village of Rozhivka in the Kiev region of Ukraine.
On the same day Russia's Foreign Ministry has vowed, "A tough response from the Russian army will not be long in coming." But that response appears to have already begun overnight and into Sunday, as the capital of Kiev has come under heavy missile attack. Missiles did not reach the center of the city, but the suburbs were impacted.
The Associated Press has described that at least four ballistic missiles slammed into the capital region along with 57 Shahed drones sent, citing Ukraine's air force, which also said its air defenses intercepted 53 of the drones.
Zelensky has alleged that as part of the aerial assault, Russia used a North Korean ballistic missile. "According to preliminary information, the Russians used a North Korean missile in this attack - yet another deliberate terrorist strike against Ukraine," Zelensky stated on social media. "Pyrotechnic experts are still working to determine the exact data regarding this missile," he added.
The US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink has condemned the new Russian aerial assault, saying it killed a man and his four-year old boy.
As has been the pattern after any major air assault by Russia, Zelensky pressed his Western allies for more immediate defense equipment to defend the skies. He urged that "to really stop Russian terror, we need not only a full-fledged air shield that will protect all our cities and communities, but also strong decisions from partners — decisions that will remove restrictions on our defensive actions."
This reference to "strong decisions" is clearly an appeal for Western militaries to get more directly involved.
Some analysts view this ongoing Kursk cross-border offensive as a last-ditch and desperate ploy to force an escalation so that the US and NATO will more directly intervene, or else to gain leverage. Others say this is all PR-driven and that Ukrainian troops are being sacrificed in what's essentially a suicide mission for propaganda purposes and as but a temporary blow to Kremlin morale...
Full text:It also appears a distraction of sorts from the front lines, where Ukraine is fairing poorly and having serious manpower problems. It might be forcing Russia to relocate reservists from the Donbass region as well in order to urgently protect its borders.
As I said, Kursk attack is PR-driven decision by Zelensky: "Invading Russia is Zelensky's riskiest decision yet. Crack troops are being used for a risky counterpunch to Putin that astonished the world — and the fingerprints of Ukraine's president are all over it.
President Zelensky's personal fingerprints are all over it. It's been an open secret in Kyiv for many months that the president was pressing his military chiefs to launch a summer offensive.
Given Ukraine's manpower and resources problems, they were hesitant. But Zelensky is desperate to reverse the narrative that Ukraine is losing its war. Successes in the Black Sea and against Russian forces in Crimea don't get the world's attention when his country's army is being pushed slowly but relentlessly out of more territory in eastern Ukraine."
Comment: Except that it hasn't worked. Russia has more than enough men and resources. It is still handling its current fronts, taking new villages on the eastern Donbass front every couple of days. This new provocation is just one more irritant to handle.
Ukraine has continued sending drones and missiles into Russian territory, with one reportedly hitting a building in Kursk on Sunday, wounding 13 according to local sources.
Meanwhile, the world is witnessing Russia fight a war to repel invaders on its own territory in the southern region, with state media describing a Ukrainian command and control center having been destroyed in the Kursk region:
A missile strike has destroyed a Ukrainian command-and-control center in Russia's Kursk Region, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has claimed, releasing video of the strike. Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale incursion into the border region earlier this week.Ukraine sent tanks into Kursk, which Russia is taking out via airstrikes...
Many tens of thousands of Russian citizens have been evacuated from several border regions - with Russian sources acknowledging some 80,000 have fled in buses, trains, and cars. A formal "state of emergency" has persisted as Russia pours droops and security forces into the Kursk region to restore order.
"The battle began with the launch of the German offensive Operation Citadel (German: Unternehmen Zitadelle), on 5 July, which had the objective of pinching off the Kursk salient with attacks on the base of the salient from north and south simultaneously. "