Ukraine’s offensive in Kursk region exposes Russia’s poor crisis response - advisor

Mykhailo Podolyak, the advisor to the head of the President's Office, spoke of this on the air of the national telethon.

"We see the reaction from the Russian leadership, we see their inability to make quick decisions, we see their inability to respond adequately to what is happening in Kursk region, to deliver anti-crisis solutions. Moreover, we see a missing power vertical," he said.

Podolyak recalled a similar situation that was observed in Russia a year ago, when the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, ordered his fighters to “march toward Moscow”. He also noted a Dagestan case where "six active shooters terrorized a massive security force in the region for a week."

According to Podolyak, this demonstrates inconsistency of the claim that the Putin regime is in total control of the entire territory of the Russian Federation.

"This is a rather weak vertical, and as soon as certain processes involving force start there, we will see how all this collapses rather quickly," believes the adviser to the head of the President’s Office.

As reported, 74 settlements across Russia’s Kursk region are currently under control of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk said consultations and preparations for launching evacuation routes for civilians toward both Russia and Ukraine are currently underway. Also, the issue is being considered of allowing international organizations to contribute to humanitarian monitoring and response.

She emphasized that Russian civilians who are within the specified zone "are protected by international humanitarian law, with which Ukraine fully complies."

Vereshchuk reminded that the defense forces of Ukraine are creating a security zone on the territory of the Russian Federation, adjacent to the territory of Ukraine, in order to protect the border areas, primarily the border areas of Sumy Oblast.