Ukrainian troops are digging in in Kursk region, and this is a sign that they plan to stay there, writes Forbes:
“Every day the Russians don't counterattack is a day the Ukrainians dig in deeper. On the sixth day of the Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region of southern Russia, there is mounting evidence that the Ukrainians – some or all of five brigades of up to 2,000 men plus at least one independent battalion of 400 men – plan to stay.”
The publication emphasizes that the Russians are also digging in, anticipating a static war along or near the existing front line.
“Just because both sides are consolidating their positions doesn't mean the Ukrainians have stopped advancing. Nor does it mean the Russians can't counterattack – and push the Ukrainians back 10 miles (16 km) to the border. But it does mean that stabilizing the front line and keeping the Ukrainians in part of Kursk for the long term is on the agenda.”
The publication quotes one of the Russian propagandists who watched Ukrainian troops digging trenches in Kursk on Sunday described it as “the worst thing that could happen”:
“As soon as the enemy takes up shovels, in two days it will be as difficult to take the forest belts as it was near Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine.”
Forbes also cites Ukrainian sources who reported that industrial excavators are working on both sides of the front line:
“It took the Russian military six months to push back the Ukrainian defenses in Avdiivka, costing them tens of thousands of casualties. The Russians may have won the battle for Avdiivka in mid-February only because the Ukrainians ran out of ammunition after months of delays in U.S. aid to Ukraine. Now that U.S. aid is flowing again, Russian troops in Kursk cannot count on Ukrainian forces running out of ammunition. They will have to seize trench after trench to push potentially thousands of Ukrainian troops out of Kursk.”
On August 11 and 12, the Ukrainian Armed Forces began to build defenses in the areas they fully control. We are talking about Malaya Lokhnya, Sudzha, Lyubimovka, Zeleny Shlyakh, Leonidove. There is information about the creation of defensive structures south of Kromskie Byki. This is further confirmation that the Ukrainian army is preparing for long battles in the occupied territory.
The publication emphasizes that the “window of opportunity” for a possible Russian counterattack is “quickly closing” because Ukrainian troops are quickly building trenches, and Russian reinforcement columns are “meeting Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups, drones, and artillery.” According to Forbes, the Ukrainians have already deployed potentially more than 10,000 troops in the Sumy and adjacent Kursk regions.
According to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies, the Northern Group of Russian troops is trying to transfer 10 to 11 battalions to the front line – perhaps 4,000 troops in total. But things don’t always go according to plan, and there are “troubles” like this one video.
The publication notes that these 10 or so Russian battalions are just the initial echelon. On paper, the Northern Group of Forces numbers 48,000 troops. Many of them are stuck in Vovchansk, the site of the Russian offensive across the Russian-Ukrainian border in May. But if Russia abandons its offensive efforts in Vovchansk and other frontline towns, it could move significant forces to the Kursk region.
Forbes suggests that the entry of Ukrainian troops into the Kursk region of the Russian Federation may be aimed at drawing off some of the Russian troops deployed in the eastern parts of Ukraine:
“Once the trenches are completed, this delay could become long-term, if not permanent.”
Meanwhile, the White House National Security Council's coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said that Vladimir Putin could end the war against Ukraine if he is so concerned about the situation in the Kursk region, writes “European Pravda” with reference to Kirby's speech at an online briefing on Monday, August 12. He noted that the latest statements by Russian officials that the entry into the Kursk region is allegedly coordinated by the West – “this is all Putin's propaganda”, which the Kremlin master has clung to since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine:
“The only ones who are at war in Ukraine are the Russians themselves. They are the ones invading Ukraine, and Ukraine is defending itself against aggression. This is Russia's war against Ukraine, nothing more and nothing less, and it has been that way from the very beginning. This is Putin's war against Ukraine. And if he doesn't like something, if he is not satisfied with something, there is a very simple solution – let him get the hell out of Ukraine and stop the war.”
Since the beginning of last week, Ukrainian troops have been conducting an operation in the Kursk region of Russia and, according to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky, control up to 1,000 square kilometers of territory. The Pentagon has previously said that Ukraine's advance in the Kursk region is consistent with U.S. policy and they are not concerned about possible escalation of tensions from Russia.
The operation continues. Reinforcements continue to arrive in Kursk Oblast from the Kharkov, Kupyansk, Seversk, Kurakhovsky, Ugledarsky, and Zaporizhzhya directions. In addition, almost everyone who voluntarily signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense in August and those who were called up for mobilization in recent weeks will be sent to Kursk Oblast, to the detriment of the Pokrovsky and Toretsky directions and Chasov Yar.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces deployed from 7 to 11 thousand people and up to 200 units of various armored vehicles in the Kursk operation, with no more than 5-6 thousand currently in the Kursk region. The conditional contact line there is 128 to 154 kilometers long and is increasing almost daily.
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