Washington officials are more publicly praising Kiev’s surprise incursion into Russian territory as Ukraine has succeeded in ousting Russian President Vladimir Putin, hijacking the Kremlin’s military strategy and seizing large tracts of land along the border.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine earlier this week, said in an interview Wednesday that “the failure to defend Russia is comparable to the total collapse that forced Russia to withdraw two and a half years ago.”
“I think Putin is really angry,” Blumenthal added. “It is a failure of command, control, combat and determination.”
President Joe Biden told reporters on Tuesday that Ukraine’s advance on Russian territory has put Moscow in a difficult spot, but acknowledged that the United States will talk to Kiev as the offensive continues.
“It creates a real dilemma for Putin, and we’ve been in direct contact — constant contact — with the Ukrainians,” Biden said. “That’s all I’m going to say about it while it’s active.”
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel spoke at a news conference today when asked about reports that US weapons were used in an attack on Russian targets. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated today that the United States was not involved in planning the attack.
But these new expressions of support come as the invasion of Ukraine continues.
Ukraine has already seized dozens of villages in Kursk, and officials in Kiev said today that its military has continued to encroach on Russian territory – making the Kursk offensive the biggest attack by a foreign military on Russia since World War II, according to military analysts. Ukraine hit several Russian airbases with missiles and drones on Wednesday night.
The attack also marks the second summer in a row that Putin has been subjected to a major military humiliation. Last year, Yevgeny Prigozh and his Kremlin-backed Wagner Group briefly marched on Moscow to demand the firing of then-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Although Prigozhin quelled the brief rebellion before his Wagnerian mercenaries could get close to Moscow, it was the most serious threat to Putin’s Russia in more than two decades.
Among Zelenskyy’s earliest comments confirming the Kursk attack, he compared the attack to the 2000 disaster of the Kursk submarine, which killed all 118 members of the Russian Navy on board.
“We see how Russia is really moving in Putin’s time. 24 years ago there was the Kursk disaster – the symbolic beginning of his regime,” Zelenskyy said on Monday. “And now we can see what his end will be – and it will also be Kursk.”
“Russia brought war to others and now it is coming home,” Zelenskyy added.
Members of the Russian opposition have also used the Kursk offensive to criticize Putin and his leadership — though they have tried to walk a fine line to avoid comments that could be interpreted as celebrating the killing of Russian soldiers.
Ivan Zhdanov, Navalny’s top aide, shared a graphic video on social media earlier this week showing dozens of dead Russian troops in Kursk.
“The country’s leadership is just incompetent idiots,” he wrote.
Ilya Yashin, a leading member of the Russian opposition who was released in a prisoner exchange earlier this month, urged the mothers of Russian conscripts in a Telegram message to persuade their sons to leave the Russian army.
“Save your children,” Yashin wrote. “Call the conscripts, support them psychologically.”
“Get them out of this hell and save their lives,” he added.
The push has also strengthened Kyiv’s hand. Zelenskyy also said in his daily update on the war on Tuesday that hundreds of Russian troops have surrendered to Ukrainian forces, allowing Kiev to significantly replenish its “swap fund” for future prisoner swaps.
Some are calling for Washington to deepen its support for Ukraine in the face of Ukrainian success, including for Zelensky.
“Our Ukrainian drones work exactly as they should, but unfortunately some things cannot be done with drones alone. We need other weapons – missile weapons,” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday. “We will continue to work with our partners on long-term decisions regarding Ukraine.”
“The bolder our partners’ decisions are, the less Putin will be able to do,” he added.
Zelenskyy will at least have some support in Washington when Congress reconvenes in September.
Speaking in Kiev earlier this week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.) called Ukraine’s military operations in the Kursk and Belgorod regions “brave, brilliant and beautiful” and urged Kiev to “keep it up.”
Graham also called on the United States to “give them the weapons they need to win a war they cannot lose.”
Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said that “Putin has killed tens of thousands of Russians in a senseless war of futility, expanded NATO to a giant border with Finland, allowed coup soldiers to enter the suburbs of Moscow and now allowed Russia to be attacked for the first time since 1941.”
“Maybe it’s time for the Russians to rethink whether Putin is good for their security,” McFaul added.
Eric Bazail-Eimil contributed to this report.
A version of this story previously appeared in POLITICO’s National Security Daily newsletter. Do you like this content? Register below!
