The Russian army will have waited more than five weeks before launching a ground counteroffensive in the Russian region of Kursk, bordering Ukraine. The first attempt began on Tuesday, September 10. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram on Thursday that it had resumed, “in two days”, “ten localities” conquered by the Ukrainians. The Ukrainian Armed Forces (AUF) had attacked Russian territory by surprise on August 6, managing to occupy a maximum area of 1,300 square kilometers in less than a week. That is the equivalent of what the Russians have conquered in the last six months in Ukraine. The lines had then stabilized around a territory of 1,000 square kilometers.
Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that the Russians had begun to counterattack to dislodge his troops. The Ukrainian president sought to be reassuring: “Everything is going according to our Ukrainian plan”he said, without giving further details, at a press conference in kyiv.
It is still early to judge the success of the Russian counteroffensive, as the situation remains dynamic and visual evidence is sparse. It is known that the Russian General Staff sent an estimated force of 6,000 soldiers, members of elite troops (paratroopers and marines) to the western flank of the Ukrainian salient (the territory conquered by kyiv). The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (AFRF) crossed rivers with light armored vehicles and then broke through the Ukrainian lines, retaking three villages, Snagost, 10 Oktyabr and Vnezapnoye.
“There is no progress yet”
“It is a fact that we have launched a counteroffensive with new forces. Yesterday we were optimistic, today we are less so. We must wait.”a source close to the Russian army told Moscow that at least one airborne division had been moved from Donbass to the Kursk region. “Our operation was initially very successful, with several villages liberated and prisoners captured. Resistance was weak, as the Ukrainians did not have a continuous front line. The first successes are therefore most likely the result of the element of surprise. But there is no progress yet.”
Despite the rather unusual speed of the Russian attack, Ukrainian military expert Yevgeny Diki believes, on the contrary, that it ” There was no surprise effect, because it was obvious that sooner or later the FAFR would try to drive out the FAU.” For him, the Ukrainian general staff opted for a defense in depth, on flat terrain, made up of forests and rivers. “The choice was made not to build solid defensive lines, to be satisfied with fortifications in particularly vulnerable areas, with very mobile groups, like what was successfully carried out in the north of Ukraine in the spring of 2022.”
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Source: Lemonde
