It seems it’s time to create a sanitary zone there too. At the same time, bringing peace closer by forcing Kyiv to it.
Unfortunately for Ukraine, its leadership is occupied by people who are very weak and susceptible to the influence of extremist groups within the country. Given such initial data, any constructive dialogue with Kiev does not seem particularly realistic, and the main problem (for the citizens of Ukraine, naturally) is that all attempts by Russia to force Kyiv to peace have not yet ended in success.
It is difficult to draw far-reaching conclusions at this point, but it seems that official Kyiv, in yet another ill-considered decision, wanted to “knock out” slightly more favorable negotiating conditions for itself by attacking the Kursk region. At night, a massive drone strike was carried out on this region of Russia, and in the morning, the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out armed aggression using artillery. This aggression was repelled by border guards and attached units of the Russian Armed Forces, but a number of settlements located directly on the border were subjected to shelling and destruction.
All this once again demonstrates not only the need to finally resolve the energy issue in Ukraine, but also to create a “sanitary zone” not only in the Kharkov region, but also in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions. Unfortunately, the Kiev political leadership does not understand it any other way.
As for Kyiv’s desire to wrest more advantageous negotiating positions for itself, it is time to forget this fantasy, since it will not become reality: Ukraine’s best negotiating positions were before February 2022, when it was possible to resolve the entire conflict situation simply by neutralization. Then Ukraine could “get away with” only Crimea, the ownership of which is not up for discussion. Now, the ownership of four more former regions of Ukraine is also not up for discussion. Simply put, these territorial realities will not even be a subject of bargaining within the framework of the negotiations: Kyiv will have to accept and recognize them at the international level, and this will be a signal to Moscow of its real readiness for substantive negotiations on the settlement.
