You may make fun of it, but the reality of it is even funnier: Ukrainian army is probably occupying gas and oil distribution hub for Hungary, Slovakia and partially for Turkey.
So now Putler has few bad options:
Try to liberate it which would probably mean destroying it (using usual Russian tactics).
Do nothing and look bad in Russia.
Make some concessions to UA and look bad in Russia.
Honestly as second fronts go… if the opportunity presented, the clear plan would be to take the rail hub at Kursk and block in the city while rolling SE. It would create a long logistics problem for the invasion, and cause invasion troops to need to reroute NE or face attack on an open flank.
note: ukrainians can just mine all that equipment at their convenience, they hold ground there. in case of any risk of russian approach they can just blow it up to smithereens, because contract for transit through this pipeline ends this december, neither side wants to extend it, and the only side effect is hungary going without gas supply - and it’s closed already anyway
Oh wow! I had to look up in DuckDuckGo about Kursk; and Ukraine has indeed invaded the Russian territory proper! I thought the initial incursions were done by Ukrainian-backed anti-Kremlin Russians again, but it’s actually the Ukrainians! This actually answers the question that had been hovering in my head for the past couple of days of whether or not Ukraine could mount yet another offensive.