The audacious offensive of the Ukrainian military in Russia's Kursk region resulted in the capture of dozens of settlements by the Ukrainian armed forces, the taking of prisoners and the forced evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians. It was the biggest attack on the country since World War II.
According to “Associated Press“ (AP) after more than a week of fighting, Russian troops are still trying to drive the Ukrainians out, but Russia has been completely unprepared.
One of the reasons is the lack of sufficient ground forces, as the Russian army has concentrated its efforts in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. A huge part of the reconnaissance drones of the Russian Federation are concentrated precisely in the Donetsk region, which made the Russian regions bordering Ukraine particularly vulnerable. This helped Kiev to secretly mass its troops to the border under the cover of dense forests.
Ukrainian troops involved in the Kursk Oblast invasion were reportedly not informed of the mission until the day before it began (August 6). This secrecy was in stark contrast to last year's counter-offensive, when Kiev openly announced its primary objective of cutting off the land corridor to Crimea, and ultimately failed.
Ukrainians penetrated deep into the region in several directions without encountering strong resistance, causing chaos and panic. General Oleksandr Sirsky, who led the operation in Kharkiv two years ago, is now the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Russia seems to perform quite poorly when it has to react dynamically to such a situation. Russian forces perform much better when operating with prepared defenses, fixed lines in trench warfare, experts say. The Russian reserves that arrived in the Kursk area seem to lack combat experience and have problems coordinating with each other.
Kiev has not yet said whether it intends to entrench itself in the Kursk region or retreat into Ukrainian territory. The adviser of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, said today that the cross-border entry of Kiev's forces into Russia's Kursk region was necessary to convince Moscow to start honest negotiations.