the armed forces take control of russian villages, in kyiv they are waiting for strikes in response to the kursk offensive. in fact, exactly six months after being appointed to the post of chief commissar of the armed forces, general oleksandr syrskyi began the kursk campaign. operation, how will it affect the general's own image, who six months ago was called a butcher in the press, and will kursk be the beginning of the end of vladimir putin, as ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky hopes? about all this today in svoboda live, my name is vlasta lazor. a mass evacuation is underway from the russian border territories population, from certain districts of the kursk and belgorod regions, the russian authorities plan to evacuate almost 19,400 people, this

follows from the statements of the governors of these regions. russian journalists state that this is the second record evacuation in russia since the second chechen war. and on russian television, the offensive of the armed forces of ukraine in the kursk region is compared with the battle of kursk during the second world war, which is considered one of the decisive ones. the kremlin is humiliated, kyiv's morale is on the rise, there are signs that russia will have to transfer some of its own forces from donbas to the south, but what is longer. the troops of ukraine remain inside russia, the risks are higher - writes the bbc. one risk is that russia could deploy enough of its troops to surround and cut off ukrainian forces before they can withdraw, says frank gardner, the bbc's security correspondent. during the week, ukrainian telegram channels publish a lot of videos with russian prisoners. four days ago, volodymyr zelensky even thanked the armed forces of ukraine for replenishing the exchange fund on... or on the positive consequences for ukraine

of the kurdish operation. however, as of yesterday, russian pro-war telegram channels also began to publish videos of alleged ukrainian prisoners. exactly how many ukrainians could have been captured in kurshchyna is unknown. for a week in a row, rfe/rl has been asking the president's office and the general staff for a comment, but they are currently refusing to comment on kurshchyna, even after volodymyr zelenskyy officially confirmed the participation of the armed forces of ukraine in the kursk operation. chief oleksandr. reported the day before that ukrainian troops control approximately 1,000 km of the kursk region. at the same time, the ukrainian authorities do not specify exactly which settlements are under the control of the armed forces. from the reports of pro-war russian media , it follows that the furthest point from the border, where hostilities are taking place, is the crimean bulls. it is 30 km from the border. the westernmost point of hostilities, again, according to russian sources, the village of snagost, is 11 km from the border in a straight line. the easternmost village

is gir'i. also, the day before, a video of ukrainian soldiers passing by appeared center of suji. the russian service of rfe/rl has established that the video shows karl marx street in the very center of the city, but the shooting date is unknown. nevertheless, these shots are an indirect confirmation that the armed forces control the court. central about suji square. myroslav gai, an officer of the armed forces of ukraine, a volunteer, has already joined our broadcast, i congratulate you, good day, myroslav, how do you assess the offensive in the kursk region, what do you think is its benefit for ukraine? well, look, it's not worth making final assessments now, because the fact that the operation is still ongoing, so... we all

do not know the final strategic goal of this operation, only the command of the armed forces of ukraine can know about it, but from what has already happened and what is possible in principle to analyze and voice, this is a crazy political success for ukraine and a political loss for the russian federation, due to the fact that the armed forces of ukraine, in general, this entire operation demonstrated to the world. not only to our western partners, but also to russia's partners in the csto, about failure of the russian federation to protect its borders, and this, let's say, greatly impressed the representatives of the west, their analysts, politicians, their military leadership, i think, are now very carefully considering this situation. which was created by russia's partners,

in particular lukashenko, and other csto partners, due to the fact that the operation in kursk demonstrated the weaknesses of the russian federation, and we are already hearing about it. these are primarily political achievements, regarding the military, military expediency, well, there are many aspects here, you mentioned them on the air, one, let's say, from the nuances, it is that the russian federation will one way or another be forced to transfer part of its reserves, which it could use, for example, in the east of ukraine, you are, you are in the east, i will explain for our audience, we do not specify where , or have you noticed during this week even the smallest signs that russia is going to take away reserves from there? look, well, from what can be said, well, i'm not a representative, relatively speaking, of the directorate of the main directorate of intelligence in order to have all the information, but on those

in the areas of the front where we are, the fighting continues, but a certain intensity has decreased in some areas of the front, moreover, it has progressed. information on interaction, that in some places where the occupiers were actively trying to attack, they were ordered to dig in and go on the defensive, so in principle, i think it is too early to talk about any results, but we will be able to talk about the results of this operation only after it 's over, we don't know when it 's over, it's another such important point to understand what you think about the risks, the western press actually writes with delight. western military observers also talk about this operation, but they keep talking about the risks that russia can now gather, raise reserves, and there is even a risk for ukrainian troops to be encircled, do you share these risks? listen, this is a war, there are different situations, the enemy's task, like our

task, is to inflict the most effective damage, the maximum damage, so of course the russian federation, it is forced to react somehow. on events that take place on kurshchyna, but it seems to me that, in principle, this is the goal for the enemy to react, which means that the command of the armed forces of ukraine, it now has the initiative on the battlefield, that is, the strategic initiative, and accordingly it forces the russian federation to play according to the rules set by the command of the armed forces of ukraine. at this stage, and it is obvious, i think , i thank you very much for taking the time to comment, myroslav gai, an officer of the armed forces of ukraine, a volunteer, we were talking about the military objectives of the operations in the kursk region and about how this situation affected the eastern front, thank you very much, and our

colleagues also talked to another ukrainian military man who is in the kursk region, he was one of the authors of the video with women who live in the kursk region, but with ukrainian with... the ukrainian military, they spoke in ukrainian, they asked them to let them down, i think you saw this video on the internet, the military man with the call sign serhiy prutskikh, and listen to what he said, describing this video itself , which we are showing you now, the inhabitants of the kursk region are very friendly, at least those whom we met, they communicate, surprisingly for me, exclusively in the ukrainian language for some reason, they do not insult you, but no, you do not...

we communicate in everyday life we have been doing it in ukrainian for a long time and it is so convenient for us , that is, even in the kursk region, people communicate. in the ukrainian language they said that theirs had abandoned them, when the russian federation left, in some areas there , light, gas and similar things immediately disappeared, they complain, let's put it this way, from our side we helped some people, we delivered water and food, well, according to our capabilities, of course, as it turns out, after the evacuation, homeless people are waiting, there are some... who were left alone, and their relatives fled, this is the story, well , in fact, exactly six months after being appointed to the position of head of the armed forces, general oleksandr syrskyi began to implement this kurdish operation. general syrsky is behind several great successes of ukraine

in this war, well, for example, the defense of kyiv oblast in the spring of the 22nd, or the liberation of kharkiv oblast in the fall of the 22nd, but he also led the battles at bakhmut, the longest and bloodiest. an operation where the ukrainian army suffered many losses, and when syrskyi was appointed to the position of commander-in-chief, the world press, it was after zaluzhnyi, the world press listed not only successful and unsuccessful operations under his leadership, but... but mentioned his nicknames, one of them , for example, myasnyk, another - general 200. ukrainian fighters anonymously complained about the general, saying that he does not count with human losses, and all this time syrskyi emphasized in every possible way that it was not yes, and that at every opportunity, he said at every opportunity that human life is above all for him. experienced military personnel call the operation in the kursk region under the leadership of sirsky talented and unique. but, as our military reminded today, it is not finished yet, what are the risks? exist for the ukrainian army on the kurdish front and what risks exist for general sirsky himself? we will talk about this later

. oleksiy hetman, a military analyst and a veteran of the russian-ukrainian war, joins our broadcast. oleksiy, i'm you congratulations. good evening. i will start with, perhaps, directly with general syrsky. how this operation can affect the image of the general and his perception by the military, because the attitude towards him all this time was quite ambiguous. well, i can't recall a single commander in my memory, in the national guard, in the armed forces, in the service, anywhere, so that there was an unambiguous attitude towards him, so that everyone loved and respected him, even the commander who performs very fruitfully his duties, all the same, people who don't like him will give up, well, that's normal, well, you you know, it's even religiously a sin, when everyone likes you and you want to be liked by everyone, it can't be like that... that's why the attitude towards him, of course, well, many have improved, because he showed his professional

level, you know , well, i still can’t stop, not finish this opinion that if someone considers a person not very good from the point of view of his professional qualities, well, if this is confirmed by practice, then such a person should really be removed and put, well, during the war there is no honor not to give... there is no time to give an opportunity to learn, relearn, if not you will cope with your duties, you need to change, so far everything is going well with syrskyi, i have not heard any significant complaints about him, but no one in particular has heard, and those people who do not like him, well, you know, so be it, let's go on, let's go on, let's go on, if you don't like this operation, what makes it unique, well, first of all, it's something, well, you know, there's even sirsky's handwriting. and what is syrskyi's handwriting, and can we go into more detail here, what is syrskyi's handwriting? i don't want

to talk about it, but are you at the limit of what, what can be said? well, the forces attacked first special operations, then marines, then regular units. it was like that in kharkiv region, it seems like it was in kursk region, there is no need to go into details, because 60% of the intelligence information is russian. russian, russian intelligence receives from open sources in ukraine, analyzing what people say, not because they give information on purpose, but simply because they collect a large amount of information, then analyze it, maybe thanks to artificial intelligence, and in this way they find what i can't tell you about 60% of the data here, because i'm hearing this statistic for the first time, but but maybe i’ve never heard of it, well, i haven’t, well , this is from words, listen, well, let it not be 60. let it be less, because it is from the words of the russians themselves, it is quite possible that they are lying, but a certain number of intelligence, and we also

get it from open sources, that's why, well, i understood you in what is the uniqueness of the operation, well, in the fact that it was managed to be prepared completely unexpectedly for the russians, disinformation that was spread in different ways had a very significant effect here, and. .. the russians knew, well, to say that they did not notice how we were accumulating troops, well it's funny, because there are satellites, there are drones, there are scouts, well, it's impossible to hide it, but here is the purpose for which we concentrated the troops there, it seemed to the russians that it was in order to try to strengthen with additional forces and expect a strike on soum on soum, the same as the russians made... an attack on kharkiv, and it was as if we were preparing for defense, and this information reached even

gerasim, he is quite an experienced man, don’t look at his face, nature played a joke here, he is much more smarter than, you can conclude by looking at him, believe me, this is what our people said about it, well, you know, valery fedorovich once said that he learned from gerasimov's books, that's what he wrote, the hybrid war that we are using now is his, it's his... robots, it's , this is a smart person, although he looks, he is, but let's go to this sumy , i'm sorry, to the kurdish operation that borders the sumy region, and... what do you think, after all, look, a week passes, and now the main thing the question that looms, what next, ukraine will keep these territories, ukraine, the ukrainian troops will return from there when the ukrainian troops decide that it is necessary to return, because one of the goals is , as far as i understand, the withdrawal of the troops of the eastern front, if it does not happen, what can be plan b? what, why not, it is already happening, not so

massively, these are small, small groups, so far in the crimea, there in kharkiv on... the direction is already moving to the kurdish direction, well, this, well, a lot has already been said about it words that the window of opportunity that opens due to unexpected actions, it lasts about two weeks, no more, so what will happen after two weeks? because now they will, well, they will move, the russians will move troops, equipment, that is, do something in response and then, of course, some significant advances. it is no longer worth waiting, and they will try to expel us from their territories, well, according to the analysis of the institute of war research there, british intelligence there, well, all those sources that analyze the situation at the front, they believe that the russians will need a year to subtract of these, okay, can you clarify, and the armed forces of ukraine have reserves to constantly strengthen

and replenish their units in the kursk region, to hold these territories, well, we did it in order to keep there... the russians have their troops, the final goal is unknown , and thank god that it is unknown, just as the beginning of this operation was also unknown, it is quite possible that we, when russia will draw a large number of troops there, that we will leave there, it is quite possible that it was a raid, that is, a west and way out, but the goal that was set, well, we don't know exactly what was the goal, but it is clear that it is not only a military one, it is also a political component, an emotional component, here we have... achieved it, because we showed everyone, well, first of all, we showed the russians that the king is naked, that he is not putin cannot do anything when we attack, and when we liberate or enter the territories that they were supposed to control, we have shown the whole world that

there is no need to be afraid of russia, that we can also counterattack, we can conduct military operations on the territory of russia federations and our partners. unexpectedly for many of us, well, they commented, yes, they will take care of it calmly, there are no condemnations, there are no talks about escalation, there was a little noise, well, of course, and in the armed forces, in the first place and in the rear, our mood will improve significantly, yes, everyone, everyone state that the fighting spirit of ukrainians has improved, but it is also very shaky and... it is not a permanent situation, because the operation has not been completed, and some people are anxiously waiting to see how it can be completed and whether the ukrainian troops will be able to get out of there. for example, all last week the ukrainian public, ukrainian telegram channels shared videos with russian captives, since yesterday russian publics have also started publishing videos, allegedly with ukrainian captives, we

cannot quickly confirm this, but nevertheless we have not seen any refuting comments from the ukrainian. military command, and do you think there are any serious risks of this operation, that there will be many prisoners, and again, this will probably affect the image, the image of the already mentioned alexander of syrsky. well, on it's a pity, and prisoners and wounded were killed, they are in the war, it happens all the time, that's why we had prisoners before that, which, there were our servicemen who were captured, we exchanged them, we released them, so... well you know, we wonder why we are not allowed to strike with western weapons deep into russian territory, where their military facilities are located, we attack only military facilities, why are there so many, shall we say, restrictions on the use of that of the aviation itself, the same f-16s, because they, our partners, are not allies, they are

still more partners, they are afraid that such actions, powerful actions on our part. will lead to escalation, well, i am saying words that everyone knows, but what am i saying them for, and we are saying the same thing with you now, and will it not get worse from the fact that we have taken powerful offensive actions on the territory of the russian federation, won't it get worse for us, won't there be more prisoners, won't it be for more shelling, well, these are the questions that come from skeptics, give us 10 seconds, in other words , we are saying that escalation is possible and was it worth it should we do it or not, i... what i'm saying is, if we 're inside the country, our very successful military operations, we're still not sure if it's a good thing, that it could lead, in simple words , to an escalation, then what do you want from our partners , when they... say the same thing, if we are here inside, instead of applauding, we start to think and get nervous, and won't it get worse, and this is one component, another component there or a plane in

which they think that even the most capable, most elite ukrainian units, the best brigades were sent to this operation, and they say, their help, abilities and skills and knowledge would be needed in other areas of the front, for example, in donbas, it is very slow, but the advance... of russian troops is happening this very week, ugh, this is complete nonsense. yes, explain why? the fact is that, i will simply give an example, that once, julius caesar captured, captured egypt with two legions, ten times less, he had more forces and means than the enemy. thanks to the maneuver, thanks to the clever yes, he achieved, achieved victory in the war. if we these people would be sent to this linear thinking, this thinking. about the fact that someone thinks that it is necessary to conduct hostilities, there are 50,00 of them there, so we should field them, well, not 50, but 20, but motivated and trained, and

we will fight to the last, we will fight as if it were some kind of game computer, the same people who now say that, first of all, if all the people would be employed in a relatively small number in the directions of pokrovsky chisovoyarovsky, well, where is the eastern direction. then the situation would not have changed significantly there, and these subdivisions are once again, that special operations forces, these are people who know how to storm, they, you know, use landing forces in defense, well , for example, this is extremely stupid, and the same people who are starting now are so smart, i'm sorry that i expressed myself so harshly, but simply well, i don’t have the strength to listen to it, the same people who are now telling, but wouldn’t it be worth these people, that would be...

military and analysts and these people applauded and supported the conversations of our military and political leadership that without having advantages in forces and means, our actions should be asymmetrical, and for example, this action, this action is asymmetric, it is a blow to a weak not... not a place that created such a stir in russia, gave us so many points in this war, you understand that the throne under putin began to shake, and no one allows , who can remove his own, because such a weak leader is not worthy of them, and no one misses the fact that we can get behind the kupinsky-liman group and the pokrovsky group through the russian federation, where there is no fortification, no one misses this, this is a symmetrical attack , these are very smart actions. our well the political, including the military leadership, and the people who said that yes, it is necessary to take symmetrical actions, that is, to strike at

a weak point, that this is a profession, are now saying, shouldn't it have been put in their foreheads so that they fought head-on with the overwhelming forces of the enemy, no, it should not have been done, i understood you, i heard you, i just want to say for our viewers that the chair is shaking or not shaking under putin, we will still talk about the political consequences for vladimir today. putin from this kursk operation, you said that ukrainian troops hit the weakest point, as far as it was a weak point, we saw that the ukrainian troops advanced very quickly on the territory of the kursk region, this is because there was no resistance at all, there were no fortifications at all, relatively speaking, if there was urban development, then everything would not happen so quickly, the fortifications are the ones they built on the surovikin lines, preparing for our offensive in the south a year ago, the fortifications they are building behind. the front line, because they understand that we will counterattack, they are powerful and they are seriously made there, the lines fortifications on the territory of the russian federation,

that is, any kursk or other regions, they are by and large butoforsk, i think that money was stolen there, what was allocated for the construction of fortifications, there are some teeth, dragons, well, there is no fortification there, there is no prepared troops, there are none, this is a weak city, and of course here... it was necessary to strike there, the only thing is that if we announced this operation, if we could not hide our preparations for the strike in that place, then they would managed to pull up and then it wasn't there would make sense, and then i think the same actions will continue, this is a very successful, very professional, very smart operation, those who believe that once again, that it was necessary to put people where the fiercest battles are going on and that it is something else would change, it wouldn't change anything, but the most prepared are those who shout... "let's not humiliate those people who are currently conducting hostilities, here is pangai, i understand, there was, he, i don't remember, he is from was returning from kursk or from pokrovsk, i know that such people are in the most hot spots, there is no

professional people, they did the operation again, people who assault groups, special operations forces, who know how to advance quickly, avoid, avoid populated areas, they bypassed populated, large populated areas, they bypassed a large group of the enemy, they did as it should be done precisely such units, now again the western press is writing that putin may take revenge on ukraine, that some kind of large-scale attack, a missile attack on the government, is being prepared there. quarters on government buildings, and that the media that write about it, they refer to ukrainian words high-ranking officials, can it now become a problem, a serious problem there for ukraine and for the ukrainian air defense system, if there are hundreds, let's not hit the enemy, because there will be an escalation, well, let's go together, our western partners will say this, and we let's support them internally, this will definitely speed up the delivery of weapons everyone and support, listen oleksya, i have to ask you all

such questions that i hear from... i don't give you something, i understand that you have it, i don't i mean you, i mean those people who share such opinions, i understand that you are at your job, you are right to ask the question, is revenge possible, is escalation possible, well, first of all, there were no mass attacks before that, there is a certain the number of missiles they can use, well they can, they produce up to 100 missiles, different types. and here they release about 100 a month on us, or three times of 30, conditionally, two times of 50, or once of 100, to put it simply, and we all already know very well that if there were no mass shelling for a long time, then they are stockpiling missiles and will launch them at us, will it be a more massive shelling, but they have nothing to do more massively than they have already done, than they have already done, so again, well, when the people are , let's do it, here's a person says, or not...

it will lead to the fact that the russians will do something to us there, mass bombardment, that is, this person is saying in a big way, criticizing our successful actions in the territory of the enemy, because if the logic is very simple, if some actions lead to deterioration of something, and massive shelling is a deterioration of the situation and deterioration of our air defense capabilities there, it is possible some kind of destruction, so this action, which was... it was wrong, because it led to bad consequences, this is the logic of people, it seems to me that here are people who think like that, who they say that they either work for the enemy, this is russian epso, or they are just useful fools, i can’t comment on them in any other way, that is, the most successful, one of the most successful operations that goes into the textbook, which we did during the russian-ukrainian war , pondering whether it was worth doing it, and isn't it worth it, and it won't lead to something

bad, listen to it... if you think like that, then well, what can i tell you, well, i'm with you then, we're very much with you, in assessing the situation, thank you very much to you, oleksiy hetman, military officer, please do not insult me, through you i am simply addressing the people who hear us, you me, well , sometimes journalists, because i can say harshly, they are offended, in no way by the way, oleksiy, thank you very much, oleksiy hetman, military analyst, veteran of the russian-ukrainian war, please note. that course operation will go down in history and will be printed in textbooks. thank you very much. well, our colleagues talked with oleg ignatov from the international crisis group about his vision of the situation in kursk region and the reaction or possible reaction of the russian authorities to this. let's hear one more opinion. ukraine chose the weakest place, where there were only

minifields. no cover for infantry, artillery or heavy equipment. and on these sections of the border, russia also has few forces. russian forces were represented there by border guards from fsb and rosgvardiya, and in such a situation, when there are no troops, there is no line of defense, any trained brigade with western equipment can conduct a maneuverable war. and for ukraine, it was not a difficult task, so it was only a matter of political... we do not know how this story will end, i mean what is happening in the kursk region, whether ukraine will try to expand its area of ​​activity to russian territories and in what ways will there be countermeasures by russia?