If Moscow claims that the Ukrainian foray into the Russian region of Koursk has been postponed, Kyiv was kept from any comments on the evolution of the situation. Russian military bloggers say that another surprise attack would be in preparation.
Six months after her Surprise foray into the Russian region of KourskUkraine has launched a new assault on this territory.
According to theInstitute for the Study of Wara reflection group based in the United States, Kyiv forces have increased up to 5 kilometers behind the Russian lines, southeast of Southzha, in the Koursk region.
The geolocated images show the Ukrainian forces moving along the Sudzha-Oboyan motorway and already seizing several villages towards Cherkasskaya Konopelka and Ulanok.
If the Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the latest developments, Moscow affirms that the attacks carried out with armored vehicles, representing up to two mechanized battalions, have been repulsed.
Russian military bloggers have provided more details, some of them reporting that Ukrainian forces have launched an assault with 30 to 50 armored vehicles and have taken hold of Cherkasskaya Konopelka and Ulanok. However, other Internet users have denied this assertion.
The ISW insists on the fact that it has not yet found any evidence allowing it to affirm that the Ukrainian forces operate in Ulanok.
Six months of Ukrainian foray
On August 6, 2024, Kyiv launched a first foray into the Russian region of Koursk taking by surprise the Russian military commandments and the Western allies of Ukraine.
Six months later, Kyiv officials gave some details on the August operation, revealing that small units of the special operations forces (SSO) infiltrated the rear of Russia in the Koursk region From June 2024, two months before the start of the main incursion.
They progressed behind the Russian lines in Koursk to prepare for the Ukrainian foray, carrying out recognition operations and targeted strikes to dismantle key elements of the border defenses of Russia.
The SSO noted that Ukrainian forces systematically destroyed Russian air defense and ammunition deposits, thus limiting Russia’s reaction capacity.
Six months later, the Ukrainian forces maintained their positions in the border area, but Russia has regained control of almost half of the area initially captured by the army of Kyiv.
The Ukrainian authorities insist that the main objectives of the operation have always been different. Kyiv claims that the foray prevented a new Russian offensive against the cities of Sumy and Kharkiv and that it has helped to create a lever effect on Russia for possible talks aimed at ending the war.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also noted that the Koursk foray has strengthened its principle of “Peace by force” and allowed Ukraine to significantly reconstruct the “exchange fund” prisoners of war.
In its half -yearly evaluation of the Ukrainian incursion in August and the continuation of operations in the region, the SSI declared that a small group of Ukrainian troops in Koursk complicated the efforts of the Russian army to progress in Ukraine.
“The foray has highlighted the way in which Ukraine can exploit the vulnerabilities of Russia labor reserves and the design of the campaign on the level of the theater to exercise a limited control over activity of the Russian battlefield in Ukraine and generate strategically significant informational and political pressures on Russia “said the Isw.
ADVERTISEMENTThis week, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised some of the Moscow elite training courses that defend the Koursk region, stressing the fact that the Ukrainian foray has blocked around a combined army of Russian troops in this region since August 2024.
The ISW recently noted that the Russian military command had gathered around 78,000 soldiers, including 11,000 North Koreans and elements of most Russian elite training in VDV and the Marine Infantry in Koursk, in the aim to repel Ukrainian forces outside the territory of Russia.
Despite these figures and the involvement of Pyongyang’s troops, Moscow has still not given priority to the defense of Koursk compared to the pursuit of advances in eastern Ukraine and its ultimate objective to seize of all regions of Donetsk and Louhansk.
Additional sources • Isw
