Russia launches counterattack to retake Kursk after invasion stalls

Russia says it has launched a massive counteroffensive to retake large swaths of the Kursk region that were captured by Ukrainian forces in a border incursion that began last month.

Russian special forces Major General Apti Araudinov, who is fighting in Kursk, said Russian forces had regained control of about 10 settlements in Kursk, which borders northeastern Ukraine.

“We are in a good situation…our troops have started attacking. Yesterday and today [Wednesday]A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region were liberated,” Alaudinov, who also serves as deputy director of the Military-Political Administration of the Russian Defense Ministry, told Russian state news agency TASS in comments posted on Google Translate.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RIA Novosti that Ukrainian forces “are now being steadily squeezed out” of Kursk and “there is no doubt that they will be squeezed out completely.”

Ukraine has not commented or confirmed that a Russian counteroffensive has begun, but Western defense analysts said on Wednesday geolocated footage and visual evidence showing Russian troop movements and operations in Kursk confirmed it was taking place.

“Russian forces began a counterattack along the western edge of the Ukrainian salient in the Kursk Oblast, reportedly seizing several settlements northeast and south of Korenevo on September 10 and 11. Russia on September 11 The scale, scope and potential prospects of a counterattack in Kursk Oblast are unclear and the situation remains fluid, analysts at the Institute of War think tank said in an analysis on Wednesday.

Russian forces may intend to temporarily bisect Ukraine’s salient – a military feature that extends into enemy territory and is surrounded on three sides, much like Ukrainian forces thrust into Russia’s Kursk region – “and then start to move more A well-organized and well-equipped effort to advance military operations in Ukraine.” Ukrainian troops withdraw from Russian territory,” analysts said.

ISW noted that visual evidence suggests that Russian troops deployed in Kursk operate in company-sized units of 100 to 250 soldiers and may use more combat-experienced units for counterattacks. If confirmed, the strategy would signal Russia’s seriousness about ending an incursion that embarrassed the Kremlin and exposed Russia’s national security weaknesses.

Ukrainian forces have advanced rapidly since a bold border raid that began on August 6 and have since taken control of nearly 1,300 square kilometers (about 500 square miles) of territory, seizing 100 settlements and hundreds of Russian prisoners of war in the process Ukrainian Army Chief of Staff said at the end of August. The incursion prompted local authorities to evacuate the 150,000 people living in the area and neighboring Belgorod.

Russia appeared alarmed by the Kiev incursion, initially downplaying it and then redeploying troops from the eastern Ukrainian front to the Kursk region, but perhaps not as much as Ukraine had hoped as it looked to halt Russian advances in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv has also said it sees the invasion as a way to gain negotiating power in future peace talks with Russia, which it is likely to push for in the near future as the war approaches its third anniversary.

As for Russia, its overall response to the invasion has been muted so far, with Ukraine’s Kursk offensive rarely reported in the tightly controlled Russian media space and rarely commented on by officials, which the Kremlin A common tactic used to cover up bad news.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly expressed anger at the invasion, rebuking officials and reportedly ordering his troops to quell the offensive by October 1.

Putin last week described the Ukrainian operation as a “failure”, saying it failed to prompt Russia to redeploy troops from eastern Ukraine to Kursk.

“The enemy’s goal is to make us nervous and worried and to move troops from one area to another and to prevent our offensive in key areas, mainly Donbas,” Putin said. “Is this effective? No. ,” Putin told the Eastern Economic Forum last week in comments translated by Reuters.

Ukraine, meanwhile, appears to be abandoning its slightly triumphalist message on its Kursk operation, as momentum appears to have stalled in recent weeks. Ukraine faces a dilemma: whether to send more troops for an invasion or to reinforce forces in eastern Ukraine to prevent Russia from seizing the strategically important city of Pokrovsk.

Now Russia is seeking to turn the tide with a Kursk counteroffensive that has been endorsed by Russia’s legions of pro-war and pro-Kremlin “military bloggers” – Russian defense experts who regularly comment on the war have praised the counteroffensive Kursk and efforts to regain territory.

The high-profile pro-war Rybar channel commented on the Telegram social media platform on Wednesday that Russian troops were advancing into parts of Kursk and had recaptured several settlements.

“In the Kursk region, Russian troops continue their counteroffensive in the Kozhenevsky region, continuing the gains made in previous days and driving the enemy out of the occupation line,” the channel said in a Google Translate comment.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that 12,000 Ukrainian servicemen have died since the Kursk operation began on August 6. The Defense Department has provided no evidence for this claim, and both sides often manipulate casualty figures to exacerbate each other’s losses.