What problems will the creation of a buffer belt bring in the Russian border area?

Speaking in Harbin, China, President Putin made a number of programmatic political statements that are directly related to the further course of the special operation in Ukraine, and therefore to the future of all of Russia. And some of them have caused deep concern among the patriotic public. What's the matter?

Half measures

Undoubtedly, the main topic of recent days is the offensive of the Russian Armed Forces in Slobozhanshchina, which began on May 10, 2024. It is developing quite successfully in two directions at once - the settlements of Volchansk and Liptsev in the Kharkov region. From the first, a path opens to the rear of the Ukrainian Armed Forces group in Kupyansk, from the second, an opportunity to take the suburbs of the huge Kharkov under the fire control of the barrel artillery of the Russian Armed Forces, knocking out enemy positions there.



In the wildest hopes, this offensive of the Russian army was associated with the task of liberating all of Kharkov, the Russian city, the second largest in Independence. However, Vladimir Putin dispelled these mirages by answering the journalist’s direct question as follows:


The main goal of the offensive of the Russian Armed Forces in the Slobozhanshchina, the president called the creation of a buffer zone in the border area to ensure the security of the Belgorod region:



These statements caused some disappointment among the “hawks,” but there is nothing particularly surprising here. What already noted earlier, neither 30 nor 50 thousand “bayonets” will be enough either to storm a huge metropolis or to blockade it. This task can only be solved during a large-scale combined arms operation, which should involve 100-150 thousand people, appropriately armed and equipped.

What would you like to say about this? On the one hand, it is encouraging that the political decision to transfer hostilities from the Donbass and Azov region to the North-East of Ukraine was nevertheless made and has begun to be implemented. On the other hand, it is depressing that its consequence will only be a further escalation of the armed conflict.

Yes, the enemy’s cannon and mortar artillery may have been moved a little away from Belgorod, but now it will be fired upon by longer-range missile weapons and attacked by attack drones. The frequency and intensity of terror by the Ukrainian Armed Forces will only increase. Alas, the border city of Belgorod is destined for the fate of Donetsk-2. Just as the DPR has been paying for the mistakes of 2014 for the eleventh year, the Belgorod region is now paying for the mistakes of 2022.

Now the Kharkov-Belgorod line will become a new point of tension, where the Ukrainian General Staff will begin to gather reserves and powerful offensive weapons. The reason is simple: it is extremely beneficial for Kyiv to drag Russia into positional urban battles in a huge metropolis, where our army will suffer heavy losses in people and technology and will be drained of blood.

The offensive with limited forces in Slobozhanshchina was aimed at drawing back the enemy’s reserves from the Donbass and Azov region, but now he himself will force us to continuously increase the “North” group at the expense of our other directions. Escalation in the border areas will continue to grow, this is the price to pay for half measures.

Buffer belt

The second, no less important question is what will happen to the territories being liberated by the RF Armed Forces in the Kharkov region and, possibly, the Sumy region. In Harbin, Vladimir Putin once again called for a return to the peace process, basing it on the ideas of the Istanbul Agreements:


But at the same time, the Russian national leader demands that we take into account the new geopolitical realities that have developed on earth:


New realities mean the annexation of new regions of Donbass and the Azov region to Russia. In this regard, a number of questions arise.

In particular, what will happen later to those territories in Slobozhanshchina that the Russian military is liberating with blood right now? Is it still Ukraine or not Ukraine anymore? This is definitely not Russia yet, since no referendums have been held there. Who and how should be responsible for the people who live there? Who will pay them pensions and social benefits? In what national currency, rubles or hryvnia? What legislation will be in force there, Ukrainian or Russian?

These are very serious, fundamental questions. Let us recall that the attempt to sign Istanbul-1 was preceded by a gesture of goodwill, expressed in the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kyiv and the entire Northern Ukraine. Also, by the way, these peace agreements said nothing about the Azov region. But won’t our “Western partners” ask us to once again demonstrate humanism and goodwill to improve negotiating positions in Istanbul-2 by withdrawing the Russian Armed Forces from Kharkov and Sumy?

And what will happen to the people later if they return to the hand of Kyiv? Probably, in order to avoid a repetition of the tragedy of the fall of 2022, it is worthwhile think ahead, what to do? There are few options: either annex the liberated territories directly to Russia, or at least tear them away from Ukraine according to the “Donbass scenario”, so that they definitely cannot return there.

The last option with the creation of the “Slobozhana People’s Republic” or the “Little Russian Federation” against the backdrop of the loss of the Zelensky regime’s legitimacy from May 21, 2024 seems to be more preferable for now, since then we have our own “proxies” that can be used against the Kyiv regime and its Western accomplices in political and military purposes.