US Intelligence Officials Call Russia Faced A Difficult Battle To Re-arrest Ukraine's Controlled Region

Ukrainian military illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/AFU Joint Forces Command/Mil.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Russian troops will face a difficult battle, as President Vladimir Putin plans to try to retake territory in Kursk which was seized by Ukrainian forces, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said on Wednesday.

Cohen said at a conference on the national security industry, the significance of the Ukrainian attack, which has taken control of about 300 square miles (777 square km) of Russia's province, remains unclear.

Ukrainian troops broke through Russia's western border to Kursk on August 6, in a surprise attack that was still ongoing.

While Kyiv said it had no intention of annexing the territory it had captured, Ukrainian troops were building a defensive line and it appeared they intend to maintain "part of the territory for some time," Cohen said at the National Intelligence and Security Summit.

"We can be sure that Putin will launch a counter-attack to try to retake the region," Cohen said.

"I think our expectations are that it will be a difficult battle for Russia," he continued.

Putin, Cohen said, "not only has to face the fact that now there is a frontline on Russian territory that he must face, he must also face the impact on his own society that they have lost part of Russia."

Ukraine's success in Kursk "potentially changes the dynamics" of the conflict "slightly in the future," Cohen continued without elaborating.

Ukraine claims to have captured 100 settlements in its raid on Russia's Kursk territory. Meanwhile, Russian troops continued to advance slowly in the eastern Donetsk region.

Cohen said Russia had made the profit "at a tremendous cost" in terms of troops and equipment and "may or may not" seize Ukraine's main logistics center city, Pokrovsk.

"But in the end, none of that changed the game in a strategic sense" for Russia, Cohen said.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the war with Russia would eventually end in dialogue. However, Kyiv must be in a strong position and that he will submit plans to US President Joe Biden and his two potential successors.

On the other hand, President Putin said any deal should start with Ukraine's acceptance of "reality on the ground," which would see Russia own most of Ukraine and Crimea.

Ukraine itself said its troops managed to control more than 1,200 square km (463 square miles) of the Kursk region.