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Updated Resources - August 14, 2024
Humanitarian aid for Kursk residents is organized by people wearing shirts symbolizing the People's Front, a political coalition in Russia started in 2011 by then-Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin to provide the United Russia political party with "new ideas, new suggestions and new faces". 9 August 2024. (Governor of the Kursk Oblast Alexey Smirnov, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Kyiv Independent: Newsfeed
Novaya Gazeta Europe: Newsfeed
The Insider: Newsfeed
The Telegraph via Apple Podcasts - Ukraine: The Latest
President Vladimir Putin talks with the Governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, about the situation regarding the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk Oblast. 8 August 2024. (Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
WHAT'S ON OUR MIND
In addition to our weekly resource update, today we also offer an updated collection of pieces on the Israeli-Hamas war.
On August 6th, Kyiv launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk and Belgorod regions along Russia’s western border with Ukraine, marking the first ground invasion of Russia since World War II. In the ensuing week, the initially murky circumstances have come more sharply into focus, with publications and analysts around the world offering clarity on the current state of the operation. Today’s resource update offers the latest on the offensive, including useful context and insights into the broader strategic and legal ramifications, Kyiv’s stated motivations, the Kremlin’s response, and the impact within Russia.
Meduza, The Guardian, and Al Jazeera’s primers on the developing situation offer background and insights in brief. The Kremlin’s recent communiques and the current state of civilian evacuations are covered in The Washington Post. In The Kyiv Independent, a round up on the latest developments, including Kyiv’s most recent update on military gains. Another piece from the publication pulls back the curtain on Ukraine’s intentions, surveying the strategic effort to ease pressure on forces fighting in the Donbas and revealing the deep fatigue and waning morale felt by troops in the region after relentless Russian bombardment in recent months. A piece from The Atlantic Council highlights the value of the element of surprise in the operation’s success to date.
Next, we look at the ramifications of this development. In Foreign Policy, an analysis of the potential impact on ending the war suggests that the offensive offers Kyiv leverage at the negotiating table. Another piece from the publication considers the political implications, positing that the offensive’s greatest blow falls on Putin’s narrative of inevitable Russian victory. A final Foreign Policy report queries the cost of Ukraine’s territorial gains at the expense of its finite personnel.
The Wilson Center delves more deeply into ramifications in two pieces. The first examines dynamics in the former Soviet sphere; it follows the redeployment of Belarusian troops to the Ukrainian border after last month’s sudden and unexpected withdrawal which, in the aftermath of the invasion, has incurred Russian media ire. The second examines the Kursk operation within the broader context of international law’s evolution under wartime pressure.
A podcast from The Telegraph’s “Ukraine: The Latest” brings news from the front and introduces Putin’s former bodyguard tasked with leading the Russian defense. Meduza reports on the capture of an integral piece of Russia’s pipeline infrastructure facilitating gas flow to Europe, the Sudzha gas metering station. In Novaya Gazeta Europe the Russian state-owned energy giant, Gazprom, denies that the station was destroyed in the incursion, rebutting satellite footage released by Radio Liberty suggesting its destruction.
Kremlin narratives are examined in Meduza, revealing that it took more than two days for the Russian domestic policy team to formulate guidance for media outlets’ coverage of the developments in Kursk. The Insider casts a critical eye on videos released by the Russian Ministry of Defense allegedly showing ‘successful strikes’ on advancing Ukrainian forces.
Russian pro-war bloggers’ reaction is illuminated in The Moscow Times, as their fury is directed at Chechen leader Kadyrov’s troops for their failure to defend the Kursk border. Another piece from the publication covers the blame laid at officials’ feet by Kursk residents on social media. A final piece from The Moscow Times examines Russia’s reported deployment of young and inexperienced conscripts in the defense of Kursk, prompting loved ones’ appeals to authorities.
We conclude with two pieces from RT for the latest out of Russia. The first summarizes Putin’s comments on the Ukrainian invasion at a meeting with senior officials on Monday. The second offers a Russian perspective on Kyiv’s intentions, western media coverage, and the war’s escalation.
In the overview, we seek clarity on the final days of the Maidan and the narrative of a western-backed coup to remove Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych from office in 2014. In videos, a piece exploring the timing of Ukraine’s Kursk incursion, as well as one that analyzes the implications of last week’s high profile prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States. In the arts, the significance of a Russian anti-war artist whose resistance took the form of five amended grocery store price tags and the Ukrainian opera star who - along with her rescue worker husband - keep their city of Kharkiv alive.
Find resources on this latest development - and many more topics of interest, including Russia’s YouTube shutdown - in today’s update of our Russia-Ukraine page. Visit our blog for news and perspectives on the Israel-Hamas War - including the recent regional escalation - as well as new reflections from our network.
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