2024-08-31 08:56:29
The Ukrainian military continues to face challenges from a Russian offensive that continues unabated despite efforts to contain it. In recent weeks, attention has focused on the so-called Kursk operation, which was intended as a strategic diversion to ease the pressure on Pokrovsk. However, as Forbes analyst David Axe notes, the plan failed to produce the desired results.
Forbes writes about this.
The operation in the Kursk region was conceived as a way to divert Russian forces from the eastern front, especially from the Pokrovsk area. The main idea was to force the Kremlin to transfer some of its forces from the Donetsk region to defend Kursk.
This, Ukrainian strategists believed, could ease the pressure on Ukrainian defenses in the east and create the preconditions for a successful counteroffensive. However, in practice, things turned out differently.
Instead of weakening Russia’s position in the east, the Kursk operation worsened the shortage of Ukrainian troops in the region. While many Ukrainian reserves were transferred to the Kursk region, the Russian command chose a different path, gathering young and undertrained conscripts for protection, which allowed it to preserve its main forces on the eastern front.
Three weeks into the invasion, it is clear that the Russian offensive in the east is not only continuing, but intensifying. Ukrainian forces defending Pokrovsk are outnumbered, threatening to overwhelm them and cause the city to fall. David Axe points out in his article that without urgent reinforcements, the situation could quickly deteriorate, and it will only be a matter of time before Pokrovsk falls.
The Ukrainian leadership faces a difficult choice. Frontelligence Insight analysts believe that newly formed brigades could be used to stabilize the front line, or forces would need to be redeployed from other regions, such as Kursk and Kharkov. An alternative is to redeploy battalions from more stable fronts.
The best-case scenario assumes that the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will find a way to strengthen the defense near Pokrovsk. If this is successful, then Ukrainian troops will be able to wear down Russian units, gradually undermining their combat capability. However, this takes time, and it is not yet clear when exactly Russian losses will reach a critical level to stop their advance. In any case, the stakes are high, and every decision will be decisive for the further course of the war.
Earlier, “Kursor” wrote that the Ukrainian Armed Forces probably encircled the Russians in the Kursk region.
About three thousand Russian soldiers could have been surrounded.