The day before, on March 12, Kremlin tyrant Vladimir Putin visited the command post (CP) of the Russian Armed Forces in Kursk region, which happened for the first time since the breakthrough of the Defense Forces into this region (August 2024).
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Photo – reuters.com
As NBN reports with reference to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Putin’s above-described visit openly indicates his desire to use the “capture” of Sudzha to demonstrate military successes and strength against the backdrop of the American-Ukrainian proposal, which assumes a temporary ceasefire.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War note that this is only the second time that Putin has met with the command of his troops on the front lines, if we take into account the entire time since the beginning of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine (since February 2022): for the first time, the Russian dictator visited the headquarters of the Dnepr group of troops in the occupied Kherson region and an identical command post of the Russian Guard in the occupied Luhansk region.
It should be emphasized that during his visit to the headquarters in the Kursk region, Putin put on a military uniform, which is a very noticeable step, since during his previous visits to the front in April 2023, the tyrant remained in civilian clothes.
Thus, Putin, apparently, has begun to position himself as an interested military leader, seeking to join the Russian military-political elite involved in the recent “successes” of the Russian Federation in Kursk. Also, the dictator will probably try to present himself as a strong and effective military leader before the start of US-Russian negotiations, in particular, a meeting with US Special Representative for the Middle East Steve Witkoff (scheduled for March 13).
However, on the evening of Wednesday, March 12, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, stated that intensive military actions in the suburban areas of Sudzha would not cease, but that Ukrainian units would maintain “defense in Kursk region for as long as it is expedient and necessary.”
Earlier we wrote that the Rada's Defense Committee answered whether the Ukrainian Armed Forces had left Sudzha.