In a stark escalation of military strategy, Russian President Vladimir Putin has formally announced that Russian forces are actively working to establish a “security buffer zone” along the border with Ukraine. The statement, delivered during a government meeting on May 22, marks the clearest confirmation yet of Moscow’s intent to deepen its military footprint inside Ukrainian territory in response to increasingly frequent cross-border attacks.

The meeting, which addressed the volatile situation in Russia’s frontier regions – particularly Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk – came on the heels of a Ukrainian missile strike on the Russian border town of Lgov. The attack, reportedly carried out with US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, injured at least 12 civilians, including two children, according to interim Kursk Governor Aleksandr Khinshtein. This incident, along with an unprecedented wave of Ukrainian drone incursions, appears to have pushed Moscow to accelerate plans for establishing what Putin referred to as a “cordon sanitaire.”

Putin’s remarks underline a significant shift in Russia’s operational posture. The Kremlin had previously hinted at the need for a buffer zone, but the president’s recent statement signals that the plan is now in motion. “It has been decided to create the necessary security buffer zone along the border. Our armed forces are actively solving this task now. The enemy’s firing positions are suppressed, the work is going on,” Putin said.

The concept of a buffer zone – territory that serves as a protective belt........

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