Vladimir Putin met with officials in the Kursk Oblast in his country's west most likely to justify the plans to occupy the Sumsk Oblast in the north of Ukraine - he assessed the American Institute for War Studies (ISW) in the latest report.
According to the ISW, "Russian territorial objectives go beyond circuits that have already illegally seized or annexed, and Putin may want to check out Ukraine by continuing to occupy the Sumic region so that it will renounce part of that circuit during future peace negotiations".
During the gathering on 20 May the head of the local authority (district - ed.) in the Kursk Oblast Paweł Zolotariov asked Vladimir Putin to creation of a buffer region in the sum circlewhich would include "at least the city of Sumy". The P.O. of the circuit politician Alexander Chinsztejn later announced on Telegram that his grandpa came from the Sumic region, so "this land is not alien to him".
Sums lie about 25 km from the Russian border and a buffer region of specified depth would prevent Ukrainian forces from attacking Russia's territory with barrel artillery and utilizing tactical drones.
According to ISW, the Kremlin most likely arranged a gathering on May 20 to present Putin as an effective and committed leader who responds to the demands of the subordinates.
The intent of the dictator
Although the Russian authorities announced on 26 April that they had taken the full course circuit, the ISW saw reports that Ukrainian forces were inactive holding limited positions in this circuit and fighting continued. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on 21 May that Ukrainian forces are continuing active combat activities there.
"It is highly improbable that Russian forces will be able to take over Sumy in the close or not distant future, considering that Russia has been incapacitated in the last 3 years to rapidly master even many smaller towns" - the ISW estimates.
Think tank stressed that only limited Russian units are in the direction of Sum, which are not adequate to occupy the city, counting 256 1000 inhabitants before the war. The ISW added that for the last time Russian forces occupied the city over 100,000 inhabitants in July 2022 and was Lisiciansk in the Luhansk Oblast.
Thursday is 1184th day of war.
Source: PAP
