Ukrainian officials indicated that the invasion of Kursk region has prompted Russian authorities to significantly increase Russian forces.
This is written in the daily report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Vadim Mysnik, a spokesman for Ukraine's Northern Operational Command, said on September 14 that Russian forces had 11,000 troops in the Kursk region at the start of the August invasion of Ukraine. According to various estimates, the current size of the Russian group in the Kursk region is between 30,000 and 45,000 people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on September 13 that Russian forces have concentrated 40,000 personnel in the Kursk region and aim to have up to 70,000 personnel in the area.
The reported increase shows how the operational pressure caused by the invasion has forced the Russian military command to redeploy elements from Ukraine to the Kursk region.
A Russian counteroffensive operation to recapture territory seized by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region would very likely require even more manpower and materiel than Russia has already concentrated in the area, and therefore additional Russian redeployment from Ukraine.
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Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on September 14. This is the third exchange since the Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region. Ukrainian officials announced that Russia has returned 103 prisoners to Ukraine.
Among them are Ukrainian military personnel who defended the steel plant "Azovstal" in Mariupol in early 2022,; by the Ukrainian National Police and the State Border Service; from the Ukrainian State Transport Special Service and other Ukrainian military personnel. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said on September 14 that Ukraine had returned to Russia 103 people captured by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region. Russian sources suggest that the returned Russian prisoners are conscripts. The swap is similar to the one Russia and Ukraine held on September 13, during which they each returned 49 prisoners.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly emphasized that the Kursk invasion strengthened Ukraine's negotiating power in the prisoner-of-war exchange with Russia. The frequency of prisoner-of-war exchanges between Ukraine and Russia has increased significantly since August 6, with the two countries exchanging a total of 267 prisoners of war each in three separate exchanges. Russia and Ukraine conducted only three other exchanges - 405 Ukrainian prisoners of war and 423 Russian prisoners of war - between January 1 and August 6, 2024.
The US State Department announced new sanctions on September 13 against entities and individuals associated with Russian state media Russia Today (RT). He is accused of engaging in information operations, covert influence and military supply efforts for the Kremlin through countries in Europe, Africa and the Americas.
The State Department said the Kremlin created a cyber operations organization within RT in the spring of 2023 that provided information to Russian intelligence, media and mercenary groups. RT is also reportedly raising crowdfunding money to buy equipment for the Russian military in small orders, including from China, "to avoid unwanted scrutiny".
The State Department noted that RT was coordinating with the Kremlin to influence Moldova's October 2024 presidential election and incite violent protests in Moldova. The State Department said the Kremlin is using Russian state-owned Promsvyazbank's (PSB) recent pension funding deal with Moldova's Gagauzia autonomous region to buy votes for pro-Kremlin presidential candidates, as ISW similarly assessed in April 2024.< /p>
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on September 14 that RT "functions as a de facto arm of the Russian intelligence apparatus".
The U.S. Department of Justice said on September 4 that the Kremlin is conducting sophisticated malicious influence operations, dubbed "Doppelgänger", to reduce Western support for Ukraine and influence elections in the U.S. and abroad.
At the time, ISW assessed that Russia was continuing information operations on social media platforms.
Georgia is given as an example.
Representatives of the ruling party in Georgia "Georgian Dream" continue to reflect the Kremlin's information operations justifying the Russian occupation of internationally recognized Georgian territories. Party founder and former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili attributed the 2008 Russo-Georgian war and subsequent Russian occupation of Georgian territories to unspecified outside forces and the former pro-Western ruling party "United National Movement of Georgia". during an election rally in Gori, a city bordering Russian-occupied South Ossetia.
Ivanishvili omitted any mention of Russia and Russian aggression against Georgia. He claimed he would hold former pro-Western Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to account in particular if the party won a constitutional majority in Georgia's upcoming parliamentary elections in October 2024. Ivanishvili also said the Georgian government, under the leadership of the "Georgian Initiative" party. , will seek reconciliation with South Ossetia.