VLAD'S SCRAMBLE
Desperate Putin pulls soldiers OUT of Ukraine in humiliating retreat – and it’s all part of Kyiv’s ‘masterplan’
An animation shows how Ukraine's forces have rapidly rumbled into Russia
VLADIMIR Putin is pulling troops out of Ukraine to defend Russia as Kyiv's forces power on.
Ukraine's shock surge into Russian territory is widely seen as a ploy to stretch Kremlin resources and with Vlad's latest move it appears to be working.
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The Ukrainian blitz has lasted just a week but they've already taken over dozens of villages and a huge slice of territory - as much as 400,000 square miles, according to Kyiv estimates.
It's sparked mass evacuation in both the Kursk and Belgorod regions, with at least 120,000 Russian residents forced to flee.
Now some Russian troops have been ordered out of southern Ukraine to come back and defend their homeland, a Ukrainian army spokesman revealed.
Dmytro Lykhoviy told Politico: "Russia has relocated some of its units from both Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine’s south."
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Those regions were attacked by Putin straight after the tyrant launched his illegal full-scale invasion in February 2022.
It's not clear how many troops were called back to the border as Ukraine continues to pile in but Lykhoviy conceded it was a "relatively small" number.
Yet it could prove a sign of success that Ukraine's bold move to take the war to Russia will take some heat off its own battered regions.
One of Russia's strike UAV drones was redeployed to Kursk, after previously flying around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, Russian defence policy researcher Rob Lee posted on X.
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Lykhoviy did however caution that it could be a "smokescreen" tactic, with the Russians previously ramping up attacks on Kherson despite pulling some troops from the region.
He said: "We must still understand whether it is a smokescreen activity."
Moment Ukraine drones tell Russian troops to ‘put guns on the ground and surrender’ as Zelensky’s troops storm Kursk
Either way, Kyiv has shown the world it can launch its own devastating offensives, making Vlad the first Russian leader to surrender his nation's soil since the Second World War.
And an anonymous Western diplomat working in Kyiv told the Washington Post it was part of a masterplan for Ukraine to remind the world of its own prowess.
The diplomat said: "Ukraine is showing the world that the country is able to fight back.
"This operation is perfect timing before the US election to put this conflict back on the map."
Former British tank commander Colonel Hamish de Bretton Gordon told The Sun: “Ukraine has hit them hard where it hurts when they weren't looking.
"And it's becoming an absolute challenge. It has shown that actually the Russian war machine is very basic.
“Moscow is close enough to hear the shouts and screams of Kursk.
"As long as the shouts and screams are heard in Moscow, to me, that's operational success for Kyiv.”
Putin claimed the Ukrainians were trying to "intimidate society and to undermine stability" in the invasion.
But it's worried the tyrannical leader so much that he's appointed his ex-bodyguard to coordinate military operations in Kursk.
Alexei Dyumin, considered a potential successor to Vlad himself, is now in charge of the desperate defence.
He once boasted of saving his president from a bear on a getaway trip in the mountains.
But Dyumin's job to send back the Ukrainians appears a tougher task than when he forced the bear to retreat by shooting it at, with Russia also struggling for solider supply.
Why has Ukraine invaded Russia?
By Ellie Doughty
UKRAINE'S daring invasion into Russia has been launched for two key reasons - with one aimed at Putin and one at the West.
A high-ranking Ukrainian official told AFP that the idea behind the attack is to stretch Putin's armies as much as possible, spreading them thinly over different areas.
The security brass told AFP on condition of anonymity that "the aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses and to destabilise the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border".
As well as acting as a huge morale-boosting win for Ukraine - the invasion also has a second key purpose in Kyiv's masterplan.
It is a message to allies in the West who have closely monitored Putin's war.
Military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady told The Washington Post: "This is definitely one consideration that it is really a signal to the West and to Ukrainian allies and partners that Ukraine is still capable of launching offensive operations.
"That Ukraine is capable of conducting fairly complex operations into enemy territory."
Vlad on the other hand claims Ukraine are simply trying to gain leverage for peace talk negotiations.
Bloomberg reported Moscow was trying to cope with a shortage in troops by increasing recruitment bonuses, but it was so far failing to work.
Putin has in response sent in the notorious Wagner mercenary troops to deal with Ukraine's surge.
Wagner was headed by former Putin close crony Yevgeny Progozhin - who was allegedly assassinated on Kremlin orders in a plane crash a year ago.
It came after he led a daring coup against tyrant's regime.
The Wagner army - including tens of thousands of jail convicts freed and pardoned by Putin - had been used in cannon fodder frontline roles fighting against Ukrainians.
Pro-war blogger Yegor Guzenko, known by his alias Thirteen, posted: "Didn’t I say there would be some good news? So here you go — Wagner Group fighters are returning to Russia."
Guzenko posted a video on Telegram allegedly showing a military unit in camouflage and wearing Wagner army patches in an army vehicle - apparently heading to the Russian–Ukrainian border.
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A voice can be heard saying: "Go to Kursk to f**k up the mother******r [Ukrainians]... welcome to hell. We'll be there soon.
"It’s gonna be hot, but we’ve got fire extinguishers."
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