Putin struggles as Ukraine deploys troops along 'inactive front' in border security operation.

Amid a weeklong invasion in Russia's Kursk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy argued Monday night that the operation was a border security measure, while Russian President Vladimir Putin scrambles to counter Ukrainian offensives.

In an overnight address, Zelenskyy stated that our operations are solely focused on ensuring security for Ukraine and liberating the border region from the Russian military.

Ukrainian General Oleksandr Syrskyi's update on the operation in Kursk, which revealed that Ukrainian troops had captured nearly 400 square miles of Russian territory, prompted Zelenskyy to make his first public acknowledgement of Ukraine's invasion.

Last week, Moscow declared a federal state of emergency in Kursk after an influx of Ukrainian troops, tanks, and drones along the border led to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Russian civilians.

Since June, Ukraine's Sumy oblast, which borders Russia's Kursk region, has been subjected to intense attacks with over 2,000 rounds of drone, artillery, and mortar fire originating from Kursk alone, according to Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian president stated that it is justifiable to eliminate Russian terrorists in their own territory, from where they carry out their attacks.

This week, reports emerged indicating that Ukrainian troops have started digging trenches in the Kursk region, suggesting that Kyiv plans to remain active in Russia for an extended period. Some speculate that this move is aimed at diverting Russian forces from the frontlines.

Ukrainian troops may have started digging their own trenches, according to pro-Russian military bloggers on Tuesday, who indicated that Putin is taking steps to prevent the conflict from spreading to his homeland and becoming part of his ongoing war with Ukraine.

According to Russian bloggers on Telegram, Putin has appointed Alexei Dyumin, a former bodyguard to the Kremlin chief and allegedly one of the key players in the 2014 annexation of Crimea, as the new security official in charge of ending Ukraine's operation in Kursk.

According to George Barros, an expert analyst on the Ukraine-Russian war and team lead of the Institute for the Study of War’s Russia Team and Geospatial Intelligence Team, Ukraine’s push into Kursk is forcing Moscow to re-evaluate its war strategy.

The Ukrainian operation in Kursk Oblast has forced the Kremlin and the Russian military command to decide whether to consider the thousand-kilometer-long international border with northeastern Ukraine as a legitimate frontline that Russia must defend, instead of a dormant area of the theater, as they have treated it since Fall 2022, according to the source.

Barros stated that Russia has invested a significant amount of resources to construct fortifications along the international border, but has not allocated sufficient manpower and material to effectively man and defend those fortifications.

Russia has been forced to re-evaluate its border security and force posture in Ukraine due to Ukraine's successful cross-border invasion, as argued by Barros.

Russia's ongoing offensive efforts in Ukraine will be constrained by this conclusion, which will limit the flexibility the country has in committing manpower and material to its operations. As a result, the Russian military command will need to prioritize border defense when allocating resources to future large-scale offensive and defensive efforts in Ukraine.

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has left the international community questioning how and where the war will continue to be fought. Despite Zelenksyy's assertion that moving the war to Putin's doorstep is the only way to end the conflict.

If Putin continues to wage war so desperately, Russia must be compelled to achieve peace, he stated on Monday night.

Kyiv has repeatedly urged the U.S. and its allies to permit it to utilize long-range weapons to target Russian military facilities and logistics centers in response to the constant barrage of missile attacks it has experienced daily. Nevertheless, Washington has consistently refused to approve "long-range" operations.

The Biden administration changed its stance on inter-border attacks in Russia and allowed Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to target strategic Russian targets in Belgorod oblast to stop attacks on Ukraine's Kharkiv region.

Over the past week, reports indicate that Kyiv has targeted at least six western Russian regions near the Ukrainian border, including Bryansk, Oryol, Kursk, Lipetsk, Belgorod, and Voronezh oblasts, through drone strikes.

The Pentagon has confirmed that Ukraine's current operations are in line with Washington's policy regarding the use of U.S.-provided weapons for "cross-border" attacks.

The Biden administration has consistently stated that it does not support long-range strikes in Russia, but it has not specified the range that is acceptable for Ukraine to continue attacking.

Zelenskyy is still pushing for more from Washington, stating that the restrictions on long-range weapons are prolonging the conflict.

He remarked on the usefulness of this in promoting peace.

""Gaining the necessary permissions from our partners to use long-range weapons is crucial in ending this war and saving countless Ukrainian lives from Russian brutality," Zelenskyy emphasized."