Russia Is Paying a High Price to Reclaim Kursk from Ukraine
Since early August, the Ukrainian military has occupied a salient inside Russia, in the Kursk Oblast.
Now, the Russian military is trying to eradicate that salient by throwing thousands of Russian and North Korean troops at it.
The Ukrainian Salient inside Russia
“Russia’s counter-offensive against the Ukrainian-occupied salient in Kursk oblast continues with tactical gains in territorial control observed in the last week,” the British Military Intelligence assessed in a recent estimate of the war.
The Russian forces have been making steady progress, slowly pushing back the Ukrainian units. The Ukrainian offensive took the Russian leadership by surprise and managed to capture hundreds of square miles and scores of settlements before the lines solidified.
“In the north-western corner of the salient, Russian forces have advanced up to 4km south-east along a front of approximately 4km, contesting the village of Kruglen’koe. In the south-eastern corner of the salient, Russian forces have advanced west approximately 2km from the town of Plekhovo and remain near the outskirts of Makhnovka, approximately 3km to the north,” the British Military Intelligence added.
In many ways, the Ukrainian military has achieved its objective of distracting the Russian forces and forcing the Kremlin to commit elite units to the salient in Kursk, diverting them from the fighting inside Ukraine.
“Ukrainian forces control approximately 480 sq km of Russian territory, down from approximately 510 sq km a week ago, and a high point of 800-900 sq km in August 2024. The recent loss of territory is likely due to Russian counterattacks being led by Naval Infantry, Airborne (VDV) forces and troops from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the British Military Intelligence stated.
The war in Ukraine is the largest conflict on European soil since the end of World War II. That is a fact both in terms of troops engaged, resources spent, and casualties suffered.
“Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is the first time since the Second World War that foreign troops have occupied Russian territory,” the British Military Intelligence added.
“Russia will almost certainly continue carrying out limited attacks to reduce the amount of territory in Kursk oblast under Ukrainian control,” the British Military Intelligence concluded.
But progress hasn’t come cheap for the Russian forces.
Russian Casualties
The Russian military, paramilitary units, and pro-Russian separatist forces keep taking extremely heavy casualties. For example, over the past twenty-four hours, the Russian forces took almost 2,000 losses. In addition to these manpower casualties, the Russian forces lost approximately sixty-seven tactical vehicles and fuel trucks, fifty-five unmanned aerial systems, twenty-nine artillery pieces and multiple launch rocket systems, fifteen infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, six main battle tanks, two pieces of special equipment, and one cruise missile.
Overall, the Russian forces have suffered over 775,000 personnel killed or wounded in over 1,000 days of fighting. Despite the extremely heavy losses, the Russian military is persisting with its attritional strategy. And, notwithstanding the casualty rate, the strategy seems to be working for a Kremlin devoid of quality troops and officers who can fight a more modern type of warfare.
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Image: kibri_ho / Shutterstock.com
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