Ukrainian offensive in Kursk surprises Moscow
Ukrainian Officials Remain Tight-Lipped. The Situation is Unclear. But One Thing is Certain: Kiev's Advances in the Russian Region of Kursk are Stirring Up Moscow. Observers are Meanwhile Taken Aback.
On Tuesday, Ukraine launched a surprise offensive into the lightly defended Russian region of Kursk, sparking panic among civilians and forcing Moscow to dispatch additional troops. Russia evacuated villages near the border as Ukrainian troops advanced in armored vehicles, Russian government officials reported.
Russia deployed army units, border guards, and combat aircraft to counter the Ukrainian forces, claiming to have halted their advance. According to Russian war bloggers close to the military, Ukraine has captured several villages and advanced several kilometers in two directions.
Ukrainian officials made no comment, but observers say the offensive appears to be a more serious incursion than previous cross-border attacks in other areas, which were carried out by lightly armed commandos who withdrew after a few days. "It's clear that this is something entirely new," said Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based defense think tank CAST.
According to Russian government officials, the Ukrainian units consist of several hundred soldiers using armored Stryker combat vehicles and tanks from Western production, supported by drones, air defense systems, and electronic warfare devices. "This is a large-scale army operation," said Pukhov.
Ukraine Unable to Open "Second Front"
The goal of the incursion is unclear. Ukrainian defense lines are fragile in some places along a nearly 1,000-kilometer front line against a larger and better-armed enemy. Russia is advancing on the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk and conducting heavy attacks on the nearby city of Chasiv Yar, which lies on strategically important heights in the eastern Donbas region.
Russia, whose population is more than three times that of Ukraine, opened a new front near Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, in May, neutralizing several Ukrainian brigades. "It's not possible for Ukraine to open a second front," said Nick Reynolds, research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. "They must stabilize the front line in the Donbas."
The speed and suddenness of Ukraine's operation seem to have caught Russian forces off guard. Perhaps Ukraine hopes Russia will withdraw troops from the front in eastern Ukraine to reduce pressure on Kiev's forces there. The advance could also allow the Ukrainian army to disrupt Russian supply lines to their troops near Kharkiv, and show that Ukraine is not yet done with cross-border attacks, and that Russia should not simply sit on its own territory, Reynolds added.
Putin Feels Provoked
At a government meeting today, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the Ukrainian attack as a "large-scale provocation." He then met with his top defense and security officials.
The top Russian military commander, General Valery Gerasimov, reported via video link that around 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers had crossed the border in the early hours of Tuesday. He stated that Russian forces had employed air strikes, missiles, and artillery to halt their advance. "The operation will end with the destruction of the enemy," Gerasimov declared.
Meanwhile, high-ranking Russian officials downplayed the scale of the Ukrainian advance, with Russian war bloggers and military-affiliated volunteers claiming that Kyiv's forces had pushed into lightly guarded territory with weak defenses and inadequate troops.
They disputed the official Russian narrative that the advance had been stopped, asserting that Ukraine was sending reserves to press its attack while Russia struggled to deploy additional forces from afar. Meanwhile, Russian authorities in the Kursk region rushed to support thousands of people evacuating the border region in cars and buses. Alexei Smirnov, the regional governor, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday evening in response to the Ukrainian ground offensive.
Concurrently, the Russian National Guard bolstered security at the Kursk nuclear power plant. Additional forces were also deployed to combat sabotage and reconnaissance units in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, the agency announced, in cooperation with Russian border troops and the army. Located just over 60 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, the four-block nuclear power plant with a capacity of nearly two gigawatts has seen unconfirmed reports of Ukrainian troops advancing up to 15 kilometers towards it since Tuesday.
In response to Ukraine's offensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin labeled it as a "large-scale provocation." The advance into the Kursk region has sparked concerns of Wars and Conflicts between the two nations.
Russia and Ukraine are currently engaged in a tense standoff, with the Ukrainian forces pushing forward in the Russian region of Kursk, reigniting fears of potential Wars and Conflicts.
