US offers quiet support for Ukraine after Kursk incursion deals Putin a major embarrassment

Officials in Washington are offering more public praise for Kyiv’s surprise incursion into Russian territory, as Ukraine has managed to embarrass Russian President Vladimir Putin, scramble the Kremlin’s military strategy and seize large swaths of land along the border.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine earlier this week, said in an interview Wednesday that the “failure to defend Russia is comparable to the complete breakdown that forced Russia to retreat two and a half years ago.”

“I imagine Putin is really angry,” Blumenthal added. “It’s a failure of command, surveillance, fighting and determination.”

He said Ukraine’s forces “performed extremely ably” in their operations in Russia, crossing mined and heavily armed areas and synchronizing their artillery and ground forces — a hallmark of the U.S. military that he says has been a challenge for Ukraine’s forces to learn.

“It’s not just kind of a stunt, it’s a serious military operation that’s been really brilliantly executed, and very daring and bold in concept,” Blumenthal said. “Strategically it’s meant to divert Russian strength from the East, and whether it does that remains to be seen.”

By Blumenthal’s reckoning, the Biden administration has been wary of escalating the war and might have objected to the attack if it was given the chance. But he believes U.S. military officials are “impressed and a little bit taken aback” by Ukraine’s operation, “because they have done it so well.”

House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) offered praise to Ukrainian forces tempered by criticism of the Biden administration for being too cautious in its aid to Ukraine.

“I think it's a message from the Ukrainians: ‘Look, if you give us what we need to win, we can win,’” he said in an interview.

Rep. Jimmy Panetta — part of a group of U.S. lawmakers who traveled to Kyiv and Odesa last week — voiced support for Ukraine’s cross-border operation as a way to tie up Russian troops, embarrass the Kremlin and capture public support. (Ukrainian officials didn’t mention the operation to lawmakers during this visit, he said.)

“Clearly, it’s a morale booster for Ukraine, for the Ukrainian people, especially based on this tough kind of slog of a summer they were going through,” he said in an interview. “It’s showing that they can put up an offensive, showing the West that they can fight in order to give the West confidence in their ability to support them.”

President Joe Biden told reporters on Tuesday that Ukraine’s advances inside Russian territory have put Moscow in a tough spot, while acknowledging that the U.S. is talking with Kyiv as the incursion continues.

“It’s creating a real dilemma for Putin, and we’ve been in direct contact — constant contact — with the Ukrainians,” Biden said. “That’s all I’m going to say about it while it’s active.”

State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel punted at today’s briefing when asked about reports that U.S. weapons were being used in the incursion against Russian targets. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated today that the U.S. was not involved with the planning of the attack.

But those new expressions of support come as Ukraine’s offensive continues onward.

Ukraine has already taken control of dozens of villages in Kursk and officials in Kyiv said today that its military has continued to capture more Russian territory — making the Kursk offensive the largest incursion into Russia by a foreign military since World War II, per military analysts . Ukraine hit several Russian air bases with missiles and drones overnight on Wednesday .

The incursion also marks the second straight summer that Putin has been dealt a major military humiliation. Last year, Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Kremlin-backed Wagner Group briefly marched on Moscow to demand the firing of then-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Though Prigozhin called off the brief uprising before his Wagner mercenaries got close to Moscow, it was the most serious threat to Putin’s hold on Russia in more than two decades.

In some of Zelenskyy’s earliest comments confirming the Kursk incursion, he compared the offensive to the Kursk submarine disaster in 2000 that killed all 118 members of the Russian Navy on board the vessel.

“We see how Russia really moves in the times of Putin. 24 years ago, there was the Kursk disaster — the symbolic beginning of his rule,” Zelenskyy said on Monday. “And now we can see what the end is for him — and it is also Kursk.”

“Russia brought war to others and now it is coming home,” Zelenskyy added.

Members of the Russian opposition have also used the Kursk incursion to criticize Putin and his leadership — even as they have sought to walk a fine line to avoid any comments that might be interpreted as celebrating the killing of Russian soldiers.

Ivan Zhdanov, a top Navalny aide, shared a graphic video on social media earlier this week that showed dozens dead Russian troops in Kursk.

“The country’s leadership are just incompetent idiots,” he wrote.

Ilya Yashin, a leading member of the Russian opposition who was freed in the prisoner swap earlier this month, called on the mothers of Russian conscripts to convince their sons to leave the Russian army in a post on Telegram.

“Save your children,” Yashin wrote. “Call conscripts, support them psychologically.”

“Get them out of this hell and save their lives,” he added.

The push has also strengthened Kyiv’s hand. Zelenskyy also said on Tuesday in his daily update about the war that hundreds of Russian troops have surrendered to Ukrainian forces, allowing Kyiv to significantly replenish its “exchange fund” for future prisoner swaps.

Some are calling for Washington to deepen its support for Ukraine in the face of Ukraine’s successes, including Zelenskyy.

“Our Ukrainian drones work exactly as they should, but there are some things that can’t be done with drones alone, unfortunately. We need other weapons — missile weapons,” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday. “We continue working with our partners on long-range decisions for Ukraine.”

“The bolder our partners’ decisions are, the less Putin will be able to do,” he added.

Zelenskyy will have at least some support in Washington when Congress reconvenes in September.

Speaking in Kyiv earlier this week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called Ukraine’s military operations in the Kursk and Belgorod regions “bold, brilliant and beautiful” and urged Kyiv to “keep it up.”

Graham also called on the U.S. to “give them weapons they need to win a war they can’t lose.”

McCaul also said that Ukrainian victories would help attract more U.S. support for military aid.

“I’ve told Zelenskyy, ‘You need some victories,’” he said. “It's really important from a psyche standpoint for the American people to see victories because we love backing winners and a winning horse.”

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said that “Putin has killed tens of thousands of Russians in a senseless vanity war, expanded NATO including along a giant border with Finland, allowed coup plotters to reach the outskirts of Moscow, and now allowed Russia to be invaded for the first time since 1941.”

“Maybe it’s time for Russians to rethink whether Putin is good for their security,” McFaul added.

Eric Bazail-Eimil contributed to this report.

A version of this story previously appeared in POLITICO’s National Security Daily newsletter. Like this content? Sign up below!