Goal of AFU in Kursk Oblast may be not to capture NPP but to create buffer zone — The Economist

The Ukrainian command considers it unlikely that the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant will be captured by units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, which are currently fighting on the territory of the russian region.

It was reported by the British edition of The Economist with reference to its own sources.

The publication draws attention to the fact that over the past two days, russian propagandists and military bloggers have suggested that the goal of the Armed Forces in the Kursk Oblast could be a nuclear power plant.

According to the russians, Ukraine taking control of the Kursk NPP could be a step in response to the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP by the russian army in 2022.

An unnamed interlocutor of The Economist at the General Staff of the Armed Forces called it unlikely that the Ukrainian units will seize the Kursk NPP.

"Without a properly organised force, you’ll repeat the mistakes the Russians made north of Kyiv in 2022. We cut off their lines and they were easy prey," the source quoted the interlocutor as saying.

The mechanized units that Ukraine used for the operation in the Kursk Oblast require a lot of fuel and maintenance.

The publication's intelligence source said that a more realistic goal may be to create a "buffer zone" inconvenient for the kremlin, similar to russia's attempts to create such a zone in the north of the Kharkiv Region.

"Russia was trying to prepare a solid position, but now they are f*d because they can’t protect their own terrain," the interlocutor emphasized.

The media notes that the retention of this territory by Ukraine would be a public slap to the russian dictator vladimir putin.

In addition, the positive news coming from the Kursk Oblast for the third day plays an important role for the mood of Ukrainian society.

As the Ukrainian News agency reported, earlier today, on August 8, the russian media informed that Ukrainian troops in the Kursk Oblast seized the Sudzha gas measuring station, through which gas is transited from the russian federation to the European Union.

Recall that on August 7, it became known that the Kursk NPP remained practically unprotected, as most of the security guards from among the soldiers of the russian Guard were sent to the border to repel attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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