Kremlin launched information campaign to diminish losses in Kursk region - ISW

That is according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank, Ukrinform reports.

Russian government sources close to the Russian Presidential Administration told local media that the Kremlin is actively trying to condition Russian society to accept the limited Ukrainian presence in the Kursk region as a "new normal" and downplay the significance of the incursion.

The sources noted that the Kremlin will use propaganda to encourage Russians to wait for Russian forces to retake these territories after an "inevitable" Ukrainian defeat in eastern Ukraine.

The sources also added that the Kremlin is redirecting Russians' concerns over the Kursk region by preoccupying domestic society with humanitarian assistance drives to assist the affected residents of the Kursk region and noted that the Kremlin decided against canceling the upcoming Kursk region gubernatorial elections scheduled for September to minimize panic in the region.

The Russian Central Election Commission, however, decided to postpone local elections in the seven districts in the Kursk region that are impacted by the Ukrainian incursion due to security risks.

ISW experts believe that such a protracted occupation of Russian territory undermines the Kremlin's longstanding narratives about why Russia is at war in the first place. The Kremlin had been justifying its war in Ukraine as a defensive war that aims to protect Russian sovereignty and territorial integrity.

According to ISW analysts, the Kremlin's relaxed approach to the temporal aspect implies that the Kremlin has decided to prioritize tactical advances in Ukraine over rapidly restoring Russia's territorial integrity in Kursk, and this apparent decision undermines a series of long-standing narratives about Russian "red lines."

As of August 20, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were in control of more than 1,260 square kilometers of territory and 93 towns and villages in Russia's Kursk region.