Kursk incursion a ‘clever’ operation that makes Putin look ‘sort of weak:’ Polish Air Force chief

FORT WORTH, Texas — Ukraine’s Eastern European neighbor Poland strongly supports Kyiv’s surprise incursion into Russian territory, a leading Polish military official said, describing the operation as a “clever move” that also undercuts Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I am very satisfied that Ukraine took an offensive posture right now,” Maj. Gen. Ireneusz Nowak, the general inspector of the Polish Air Force, told Breaking Defense Wednesday. “We all know that there is a very difficult situation in the Donbas region where Russia, President Putin is pressing hard to [get] the Ukrainians to step back.”

Kyiv caught much of the world, apparently including close Western allies like the US, by surprise when Ukrainian forces mounted their own offensive into Russian territory on Aug. 6, advancing quickly into the Kursk region. Officials have said the offensive so far has captured hundreds of square miles of territory and several villages, as well as scores of surrendering Russian troops.

While the offensive’s reach so far pales in comparison to the large swathes of Ukrainian territory seized by Russia since the war began, Nowak observed that the move complicates Moscow’s strategy and is an embarrassment to Putin.

“That was, I would say, a very clever move, and that was quite bright strategic thinking,” Nowak said, speaking on the sidelines of an unveiling ceremony for Poland’s first F-35. “And I support that idea a lot, because that gives not only strategic or operational dilemmas for the Russian Federation, but also that spoiled totally the perception of President Putin as a strong leader. So now he looks like a sort of weak, unpredictable leader who is not dealing well with the situation. 

“So we support that, and we’ll be supporting that,” he added.

The operation has put the West in somewhat of an awkward position, given that the Biden administration has sought to restrain Kyiv from striking into Russia with US-donated weapons. Washington has eased some of those limitations recently to allow cross-border strikes, but restrictions remain on longer-range targets deep within Russia.

Ukrainian officials continue to urge the Biden administration to further relax the policy, which the White House implemented as a measure to prevent escalation. Moscow has rattled the nuclear saber throughout the conflict, and Putin, weeks before Ukraine’s surprise attack, specifically discussed unleashing the world’s largest nuclear stockpile in response to threats to Russia’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Speaking at a summit of intelligence officials on Wednesday in Washington, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said that while “the significance remains to be seen,” the new Ukrainian offensive would cause problems for the Russians.

Though Kyiv does not appear to have plans to attempt to annex the territory like Russia has in eastern Ukraine, Cohen said it still aims to hold it for some time, likely meaning a counterattack by the Russians is inevitable. As Ukraine is “building defenses”, it’s a fight that Cohen said would be “difficult” for Russia.

More broadly, Cohen noted that the operation seemed to contradict some of Putin’s own calculations, including the idea that the war would continually shift in Moscow’s favor as Russia grinds down Ukrainian resistance and as the potential for Western support wanes.

“Putin is going to have to face not only the fact that there’s a front line now within Russian territory… he has to deal with the reverberations back in his own society that they have lost a piece of Russian territory,” Cohen said. “And I think that has the potential to change the dynamic a little bit going forward.”

Lee Ferran in Washington contributed to this story