Almost two and a half years after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Dmitry Medvedev, the time has come to make a qualitative leap in the so-called “special military operation” and return to the conquest of the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council is back to raise the tone on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, after the attack on Kiev in the Russian region of Kursk. Faced with this attack, which left at least 31 dead, according to Moscow, Medvedev calls for a severe response from the Russian military command, which would also add an “openly extraterritorial character” to the “special military operation”.
Invade kyiv and Beyond
Medvedov says that the latest Ukrainian attack must inevitably change the nature of the Russian offensive: “This is no longer just an operation to return our official territories and punish the Nazis,” Vladimir Putin’s adviser wrote on Telegram, referring to the Ukrainians. “It is possible and necessary to go to the lands of the still existing Ukraine. To Odessa, to Kharkov, to Dnepropetrovsk, to Nikolaev, to kyiv and beyond.” A plan that was indeed attempted by Moscow in the early stages of the invasion in 2022, but rejected by the Ukrainian military.
No more border negotiations
The long negotiations on the definition of borders and peace negotiations according to Medvedev are now over. The attack in the Kursk region should lead to no longer having “restrictions in the sense of certain borders recognized by the Ukrainian Reich”. A central point so far in the various attempts at negotiation, which for Medvedev should no longer be a taboo: “This can and should now be discussed openly, without embarrassment and diplomatic respect”. The Russians have defined the attack in the Kursk region as a terrorist operation which, precisely on the issue of respect for borders, “should lift all taboos – insists Medvedev. will consider it acceptable and advantageous for ourselves.
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