Russian President Vladimir Putin should end his country's war against Ukraine if he is worried about the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Aug. 12.
The Ukrainian military launched a surprise incursion across the border into Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, bringing regular Ukrainian forces into Russia for the first time.
"I'm not going to talk about Ukrainian military operations, as I said earlier... We're in close touch with them, as you might expect we would be," Kirby said during a press briefing.
"But make no mistake about it: This is Putin's war against Russia. And if he doesn't like it, if it's making him a little uncomfortable, then there's an easy solution: He can just get the hell out of Ukraine and call it a day."
Washington previously said it was not informed in advance about the incursion but noted that Kyiv was taking action "to protect themselves from attacks" and operating "within the U.S. policy of where they can operate our weapons, our systems, our capabilities."
The Kremlin's chief initially dismissed Ukraine's operation as a "large-scale provocation," but on Aug. 12, he pledged a "worthy riposte" to the incursion.
Alexey Smirnov, the acting governor of Kursk Oblast, described the current situation as "difficult" and told Putin that Ukraine is in control of 28 settlements, adding the incursion was up to 12 kilometers deep along a 40-kilometer front.
Although reinforcements sent by Moscow have begun to arrive on the battlefield, Ukraine has reportedly continued to advance farther into Kursk Oblast.
Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported that Ukrainian forces control around 1,000 square kilometers in Kursk Oblast. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify this claim.
Russian authorities have been forced to announce widening civilian evacuation measures in a number of districts bordering Ukraine.
Ukraine's head of state, President Volodymyr Zelensky, described the operation as a "catastrophe" for Putin.
"We see how Russia under Putin is actually moving: 24 years ago, there was the Kursk (submarine) disaster, which was the symbolic beginning of his rule. Now we can see what is the end for him. And it's Kursk, too. The catastrophe of his war," Zelensky said on Aug. 12.
Asami Terajima
