Diplomacy outweighs combat – General Romanenko on the Russian border situation

He shared his opinion on Espreso TV.

"We need to talk about the Sumy, Kursk, and Belgorod regions together. This is the strip where, on our side, units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces are operating, along with nearby territories, and direct combat is taking place. But in this strip, and in other parts of the front as well, for example, the military-political and now diplomatic aspects are starting to outweigh direct combat. Compared to how much our troops held in the Kursk region earlier, it's clear there are only a few settlements left — much less — but legally, our troops are still holding them. Putin would like, Gerasimov would like, and the whole Russian leadership would like to show that Ukrainian forces have been completely pushed out here. But that doesn't match reality. Just like the claim that full North Korean military units didn't fight on the Russian side in the Kursk region — that also doesn’t match reality. Lies here, lies there, propaganda is working on both fronts, nothing new," he said.

Ihor Romanenko noted that Russian dictator Putin wants to show some victories for his army — like pushing troops into the Sumy region — or list achievements in his “special military operation.” But this doesn't mean the fighting has ended.

"They want to show major results — that's what their propaganda is working on. That's why they are forming, or trying to form, a buffer zone in the Sumy region. But those four settlements, either in the gray zone or partly captured by Russian forces, have been in dispute for more than a month. They’re saying they're advancing into the Sumy region. By the way, it should be remembered that plans for actions in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions were drawn up a year ago — a year ago, I emphasize — representatives of the HUR reported on these plans. Then they started to implement them in the Kharkiv region; we stopped them there. Thanks to the Kursk operation, it also unexpectedly delayed their plans for the Sumy region by almost a year," he noted.

General Romanenko stressed that the Ukrainian military took preemptive actions at that time.

"And now we have to add the situation in the Belgorod region. The successful raid wasn’t very deep, but it was enough to show that our military is present there. And this has opened a new front for negotiations and possible exchanges. This is important, and that’s why intense battles are happening there. It’s all part of the plan — to show results of the special operation and also influence negotiations. They still can’t take Pokrovsk from us for months, can’t even cut off logistics there — fierce battles continue. For months they've been pushing toward the Dnipropetrovsk region too, just to claim that even moving 100 meters means ‘we entered Dnipropetrovsk.’ I remind you: the political and diplomatic aspects tied to negotiations are becoming more important, and military actions are trying to fulfill political demands in that sense," Ihor Romanenko added.

• On April 26, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov reported to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin about the alleged "completion of the operation to liberate the Kursk region from the Armed Forces of Ukraine." The Ukrainian General Staff stated these claims are false.