Silicon Bites #74 - Ukraine Launches Bold Counterattack in Kursk Oblast Surprising Russian Forces

<p>Edition No74 | 05-01-2025 - Ukraine has launched a new offensive in

Russia's Kursk Oblast. Early reports on its success are incomplete and

mixed. Much of the detail is coming from the Russian Z-blogger community

and therefore needs to be view as potentially unreliable. This has not

stopped the first media headlines reporting on Ukraine’s surprise

counterattack in Kursk today from leading with the reactions of the

Russian voices and incorporating their phraseology into article

headlines.

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‘Last ditch attempt’ to catch Russia off guard, and ‘last chance’ to

take back land, scream the headlines, directly reflecting quotes from

Z-bloggers. But both statements involve massive assumptions, and indeed

reflect Russian interests, rather than reality. There’s no way to tell

how many new offensives or counter-offensives Ukraine has the resources

for, or will have in 3 months’ time, 6 months’ time, etc.

Throughout the war, it’s served the interests of Russia to reinforce the

myth that it cannot be beaten, that a Russian victory is inevitable,

that ever setback for Ukraine is de facto a catastrophe, and every

catastrophe for Russia is of no consequence. And many in the media have

duly complied, in their use of both explicit and implicit language, to

add to this strategic mythology of Russian invincibility, their capacity

to apparently tolerate any hardship, and their infinite resources. None

of this is of course true.

Phrases such as ‘bold’ and ‘surprising’ could equally be applied to the

situation, but it seems there is a reflexive bias in the minds of some

journalists and policymakers, to automatically position Ukraine as a

victim, incapable of achieving victories, and underplay their successes.

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NEWS SOURCES:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/05/ukraine-launches-surprise-operation-in-kursk-region-according-to-reports