Red Lights Flash As Ukraine War Enters Critical Juncture Before US Elections

How the next two months could turn the Ukraine war upside down

“Putin and his circle have accepted that the next chapter of the war will also be fought within Russia.”

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In September, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will present a plan to the US to end the war - what Kyiv is describing as a “victory plan.” According to Zelensky, the plan’s success is dependent on Washington agreeing to Ukraine’s requests. It comes two months ahead of a November peace summit, coinciding with the US election, where Zelensky has invited Russia.

Read between the lines of Ukraine’s new plan and what Kyiv is saying is that peace and “victory” go hand-in-hand. And, that this victory hinges, not on what Russia says or does, but on what America allows Kyiv to do.

It is no surprise that Ukraine is thinking this way.

Ukrainian forces have rapidly advanced in the Kursk region: taking over a gas metering station where Russian gas is exported to Europe through one of the last remaining pipelines; capturing over 600 Russian soldiers in Russia itself; controlling over 100 Russian towns; and seizing over 1,200 square kilometers of Russian land.

The Russian territory Ukraine controls is effectively a Ukrainian beachhead in Russia. Now, a Ukrainian military office has been setup in Kursk, an attempt by Kyiv to introduce its own form of government in Russian areas, similar to what Russia has done in Ukrainian areas.