Strana 28
Miro Barič
He Who Sows the Wind Reaps the Storm in the Kursk Region
It began on Tuesday, August 6, when the
Russian border in the Kursk region was crossed
at multiple locations. This time, it was not
a small raid, even though Russian authorities
initially downplayed the situation. For the first
time, Ukrainian soldiers (not just members of
Russian legions) attacked Russian territory,
using heavy equipment. The offensive was
carefully planned and, importantly, kept secret,
with even Ukraine’s Western allies unaware of
it. Russian units at the borders had warned of
a possible attack, but their leadership ignored
the warnings.
Ukraine took advantage of the fact that
Russia had only weak forces at the Kursk
region’s borders, consisting partly of
conscripts in the basic military service and
partly of soldiers recovering from losses in
previous battles on the eastern Ukrainian
front. Most either fled or were captured.
Ukrainians first infiltrated Russian territory
with special units, attacking Russian supplies
and using jamming devices against Russian
drones. Russian drones did not fly in the early
days, while Ukrainian drones largely destroyed
the reinforcements Russia was sending.
The initial Ukrainian attack was carried out
by small units with a few armored vehicles
that moved quickly and ambushed Russian
forces, with the main forces following behind.
This resulted in maneuver warfare, to which
Russia struggled to find an adequate response.
On the eastern front in Ukraine, Russian forces
ty pic al ly procee d by f irst bombarding Uk rainian
positions with glide bombs from aircraft, then
attacking with waves of infantry. In the Kursk
region, this was not possible since Ukrainian
units were constantly moving, and Russian
glide bombs can only target stagnant targets.
As a result, Russia resorted to its usual tactic—
razing villages and towns to prevent the
Ukrainians from establishing positions there,
though now this was happening on Russian soil.
One of Ukraine's objectives was to create
a buffer zone so that Russia could not
bombard the Ukrainian border. Other goals
included inflicting damage and losses on
the Russian army, disrupting Russian supply
routes, and improving Ukraine's negotiating
position in potential peace talks. Ukraine also
sought to force Russia to relocate its forces
from other regions to the Kursk area. Russia
did this, but only from less critical parts of
the front. Russian troops remained in their
most important offensive direction, toward
Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, where they
continued to attack. However, Russia was
unable to send reinforcements to Pokrovsk as
quickly as they might have wished. By the end
of the period, their advance in Pokrovsk had
significantly slowed.
During this time, both sides were intensely
engaged: Russia was attacking in the eastern
Ukrainian Donetsk region, while Ukraine
maintained the initiative in the Russian Kursk
region. By the end of the month, Ukraine had
occupied the town of Sudzha and several
dozen other villages, most of whose civilian
population had been evacuated. Ukraine
captured over 600 Russian soldiers, initially
facing challenges in relocating such a large
number of prisoners to the interior. Among the
captives were evidently important individuals,
as Russia requested a prisoner exchange for
the first time, having shown little interest in
this before Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk
region.
Ukraine has been attempting retaliation on enemy territory since the first day of
Russian aggression. Initially, these were sporadic missile, or drone strikes on key
targets, gradually intensifying and now amounting to a strategic offensive. There
have also been several ground raids by Russian legions fighting against Putin’s
regime, though they always quickly retreated back to Ukrainian territory. However,
during the observed period (from August 1 to August 31), the war fully expanded into
the Russian territory.
The first F-16 fighter jets
appeared over Ukraine at the
turn of July and August.
Air War over Ukraine
UKRAINE
INFO Eduard28
October 2024