Rylsk sees rising tensions in Russia Ukraine war
A forcible border incursion in the Russian region of Rylsk by the Ukrainian forces has led to its abandonment by the citizens. Some students used to study at its four colleges, but now the city abounds in elderly, the Russian troops and people who left their native villages.
Military checkpoints in Rylsk are the new landmarks that have sprung up throughout these recent years. Camouflaged encampments and troop carriers are present today in the town and anti-tank defenses are seen on the highway lines. The atmosphere of the town is made clear by the following quote from Putin written across a building, “being strong is a guarantee of national security for Russia.”
Peace is foremost on the minds of the region’s citizens scarred by war, even as they have almost become indifferent to its vagaries. Sergei Kurnosov, the mayor of Rylsk said, “we hope that the leaders will come to an agreement and we will have peace.” Rylsk is just behind the frontline with Ukraine and is now a highly militarized zone.
Russia failed to push back the incursions from the Ukrainian side in Rylsk and the region is now considered to be very dangerous. Legislations has been passed by Russia regarding imprisoning people, if found criticizing the Army and the conflict. People have also been influenced by the readiness calls given for the war by the powerful state media.
Kurnosov told a media channel that a concert hall and a teachers college had been hit in December in a region dotted with blue and white churches. Emphasizing the civilian casualties due to the war, he said, “we hope that peace will come, and we will return to normal peaceful coexistence, normal, peaceful life.”
Almost every family here has relatives across the border, especially Glukhov town in Ukraine. Kurnosov, upon being queried about the children casualties, called the question ‘provocative’ which he did in the backdrop of the legislation. Most of the people agree that the war began with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a war spanning for three years now, there is a resistance to the idea of President Vladimir Putin’s supposed aggression in the first place. Kurnosov wishes for the liberation of their territory while Leonid Meshkov, a 39-year-old construction worker, laid the blame entirely on Zelensky.
US President Donald Trump recently said about imposing sanctions and tariffs on Russia in case the country didn’t abide by the peace deal. On a Truth Social post, Trump wrote about sanctions remaining until the final deal was reached. In an interview with a news channel, Andrei Fedorov, Russia’s former deputy foreign minister said, “there is a kind of order to take Kursk back by the end of March, so maybe the problem will disappear.”
He was talking in the backdrop of the Ukrainian forces remaining in Kursk and said earlier, “it’s a very serious barrier for any talks.” Putin, according to him, wasn’t going to commit on the talks before knowing about the ultimate goals of the White House. Fedorov added that the Russian leader needed results apart from ‘a visible victory’ and said, “meeting with Trump without results is not suitable for Putin.”
Fedorov said that the Kremlin wished for a meeting to be set up between Trump and Putin while pushing back the Ukrainian forces would mean more fighting. If that happens, it will go against Trump’s goal of ending the conflict quickly. Very little in terms of progress on talks between the US and Russia has been seen, despite a meeting between the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other officials.
The Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, hosted these high-level talks last month and the finalization of talks between the two premiers was discussed. Since there was very little to no movement on further progress of the talks, Fedorov is skeptical towards the concretization of the said proposals. He added, “meeting Trump was like going to the desert.”
Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, recently in an interview said, “it depends on both sides and the speed of both sides.” Earlier, she said that her country wasn’t in a hurry but was ready if and when the talks happen.
After a disastrous meeting between Trump and Zelensky at the Oval Office, the White House cut off Ukraine’s American intelligence feed. The feed helped the Ukrainian forces to anticipate the Russian attacks in advance and thereby avoid the nocturnal attacks from the Russian drones on its infrastructure and its cities.
Zelensky, however, is still hopeful about a meeting with the US officials and said recently about his travel to Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Meanwhile, Maximilian Hess, author of ‘Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict Between Russia and the West’, says that lifting the US sanctions on Russia might take time due to the legislation preventing them from doing that.
Russia is hopeful of securing sanctions relief from the Trump administration, which can be possible only after a thorough US congressional review. Hess added, “that means those Russian individuals and entities blacklisted under certain executive orders cannot be lifted without congressional review.”
The White House, though interested in economic opportunities with Russia, has to obtain “a simple majority vote (is all that would be) needed to lift these sanctions,” according to Hess. As per him, the hitch as of now is of a supposedly unsupportive stance from the party lawmakers despite Republican control of both the houses.
The military-industrial complex is also an issue since stopping the war might mean stopping the incentives to both the army and the industry thereon. As per Fedorov, people will be stopped from receiving about 2 million rubles, or around $20,000 when they sign up for the army, and then around 200,000 rubles (around $2,250) a month. An average Russian salary rounds about $830 a month.
Also, the status of the complex working 24/7, will come under scrutiny when the war stops. While many are hopeful of a peace deal on the behest of Trump, others are skeptical about their livelihoods, which are linked to the continuance of the war.
