Why Russia Seeks to Create Buffer Zone in Kharkov Region Amid Current Offensive

Russian troops continue their offensive in the Kharkov region, where they have already liberated a whole array of villages from Ukrainian nationalists.

Moscow has no plans to take control of the city of Kharkov in northeastern Ukraine because the goal is to create a buffer zone in the area, President Vladimir Putin has announced.

Russian forces are making gains in the fighting in the region, Putin said, adding that they are moving every day strictly according to plan.

Speaking to Sputnik, military observer and Afghanistan and Syria combat veteran Anatoly Matviychuk explained that a buffer zone is a territory for the deployment of troops who have an order to prevent an enemy from carrying out combat missions.

When it comes to the Russian border city of Belgorod, "the buffer zone is an area from which standard artillery systems of the Ukrainian Army will not be able to reach Belgorod and its populated areas," he pointed out.

He explained that it may even be necessary to include Kharkov city in the zone.

"The zone’s length could be up to 100 kilometers because it’s necessary to protect Belgorod’s population from the enemy’s cannon and rocket artillery. It means that the zone will include all the settlements of the Kharkov region from the point of view of the Russian border, [possibly] including Kharkov [city]," Matviychuk said.

According to him, President Putin rightly underscored the necessity of creating the buffer zone to protect Russian territory from the enemy’s terrorist attacks amid the Russian Army’s ongoing advance.

He referred to a successful buffer zone that was created by Soviet troops in Afghanistan shortly after they were deployed there to support government troops in their fight against the US­-backed Afghan mujahideen during the 1979-1989 armed conflict.

"The 150-km buffer zone stopped mujahideen from shelling Soviet territories at the time, a situation that remained till the end of the hostilities," Matviychuk said.

The expert also recalled that globally, "the most convenient buffer zone" is the Golan Heights, a territory controlled by the Israeli Army near the Sea of Galilee and Syria.

"This is a classic example of Israel fencing off the Arabs with the help of a buffer zone," Matviychuk concluded, referring to a spate of other such territories, including the buffer zones between Israel and Egypt, and Israel and Jordan.