two martin armstrong opinions in a row, and this one takes a russian point of view;

Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region has failed to achieve its intended goal of halting the advance of Moscow’s forces in Donbass, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

He stated that Russia has been making great strides in key areas of Donbass, advancing at a pace that has not been seen in a “long time.”

“The Russian armed forces are taking control of territories not by 200, 300 meters at a time, but by square kilometers,” Putin said.

The president added that Kiev’s provocation in Kursk Region would inevitably fail and that Moscow would “deal with the Ukrainian bandits” who have entered Russian territory with the aim of destabilizing the situation at the border.

After that, Putin suggested, Kiev may come to realize that it needs to resolve the conflict through negotiations, and reiterated that Moscow has never refused to hold such talks.

However, the president noted that the Ukrainian leadership was likely not interested in ending the fighting, given that it would have to hold new presidential elections as soon as martial law in the country was lifted.

“The current authorities are clearly not ready for this, they have little chance of being re-elected,” Putin said. “That is why they are not interested in ending the fighting, that is why they tried to carry out this provocation in Kursk Region, and before when they tried to carry out the same operation in Belgorod Region.”.......more........