Deputy CIA Director David Cohen hopes Kiev’s troops will put up a “difficult fight for the Russians”
Ukraine’s ongoing cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region will likely continue “for some period of time,” Deputy CIA Director David Cohen told the Intelligence and National Security Summit on Wednesday.
Kiev launched its surprise raid into Russia earlier this month, deploying up to 10,000 troops armed with Western-supplied heavy weapons. The Ukrainian army has seized some border areas, resulting in the deaths and injuries of dozens of civilians, but it has failed to advance deeper into Russian territory. Kiev allegedly did not consult its Western sponsors before launching the operation, leaving them puzzled over its ultimate goals.
Speaking on Wednesday, Cohen declined to answer a direct question about whether he and his colleagues at Langley were just as “surprised” by Ukraine’s incursion, noting that the significance and implications of the attack “remain to be seen.”
“They are remaining in Russia, building defenses, and, as best as we can tell from our conversations, there seems to be intent on retaining some of that territory for some period of time,” Cohen stated, without elaborating on what those conversations entailed.
Cohen went on to assert that Ukraine’s attack “has the potential to change the dynamic” of the conflict going forward, but he admitted there is no doubt that Russia “will mount a counteroffensive to try to reclaim that territory.”
“I think our expectation is that this will be a difficult fight for the Russians,” he added. “It’s still early days in this, so we’ll have to see how it all plays out.”
The Ukrainian leadership has been inconsistent in explaining its goals for the Kursk Region operation. Initially, Vladimir Zelensky’s office stated that capturing Russian territory was necessary to gain a stronger position during eventual peace talks with Russia. It also mentioned the need to apply pressure on Moscow by intimidating the Russian public into accepting Ukrainian terms.
The messaging later shifted, with Zelensky declaring the creation of a buffer zone as a key achievement of his troops. Last Saturday, he claimed that the incursion had preempted a Russian attempt to enter Ukraine’s Sumy Region from the Kursk Region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the incursion and the harm it caused to Russian civilians have made negotiations with Ukraine impossible. Previously, he offered a ceasefire in return for political and military concessions.
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