Former US ambassador: Ukraine has crossed Russia's 'red line'.
Former US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan argues that the Ukrainian Armed Forces crossed Russia's red line in their attack on the Kursk region.
According to RIA Novosti on August 13, former US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan, in an interview with the New York Times, believes that Ukraine has crossed a "red line" by attacking the Kursk region, but Russian President Vladimir Putin will act as decisively as possible to expel Ukrainian armed forces from Russian soil.
“That’s possible. The Russians might consider the US involvement in this, as they call it, as a serious act of provocation or terrorism, and this is a kind of red line that the Ukrainians have crossed,” former ambassador Sullivan said, in response to a question about whether the Ukrainian Armed Forces had drawn Russia’s red line.
Former Ambassador Sullivan also added that he hoped President Putin would react "as decisively as possible" to expel the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Russian territory.
Meanwhile, according to a statement by US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel, the US is in separate discussions with Ukraine about the possibility of using long-range ATACMS missiles to strike Russian military bases.
According to the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, numbering in the thousands, launched an attack at 5:30 a.m. on August 6th with the aim of seizing territory in the Kursk region. Their advance was halted.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated on August 12th that Ukrainian forces had lost more than 1,600 soldiers, 32 tanks, and 23 armored vehicles in the fighting along the Kursk front.
