US senators hail Ukraine’s Kursk operation as “bold, brilliant”

A bipartisan delegation of US senators to Kyiv expressed their support of the Ukrainian operation in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. The statement came during the official visit to the Ukrainian capital on August 12, Radio Free Europe reports.

“Bold, brilliant, beautiful. Keep it up. Putin started this, kick his ass,” declared US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal praised the operation by the Ukrainian armed forces as being historic.  “This is a seismic breakthrough,” he asserted. “It’s good, big news that promises even more potential breakthroughs… But the main news is that Ukraine is in Russia. It’s bringing the fight to Russian territory,” Blumenthal argued.

The senators went on to urge the Biden administration to lift restrictions on the use of American weapons against targets within Russian territory. “Let these people fight! Give them weapons they need to win a war they can’t afford to lose. When it comes to F-16s – way too long, they’re here, let’s use them. Let’s train Ukrainian pilots,” Graham said.

Graham also offered the idea that Ukraine invite retired Western F-16 fighter pilots to participate in the fight against Russia. “The Ukrainians will be looking to NATO countries for retired pilots to help them until they train their own pilots,” the senator suggested.

Such a measure would allow the provided aircraft to be used more speedily, during the period Ukrainian pilots require for training, Graham said, saying that he wanted to raise this issue in the US upon his return.

Meanwhile, the White House commented on the Ukrainian military operation in Russia, advising Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine if he is concerned about the situation in Kursk Oblast. “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,” said John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House. 

On August 12, Ukraine officially acknowledged its offensive operation in Kursk. The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, reported that Ukrainian troops control about a thousand square kilometers of Russian territory.

“Russia brought war to others; now it is coming home. Ukraine has always wanted only peace, and we will definitely achieve it,” President Zelenskyy said in his traditional address.