“The Russians have started counter-offensive actions. This is according to our Ukrainian plan,” Zelensky said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that Russian forces have launched counterattacks along the western edge of the district of Kursk Oblast occupied by Ukrainian forces and have taken several settlements in the past two days.
Available visual evidence suggests that Russian forces attacking in the Kursk area are using company-sized units and may use elements of more combat-experienced units to counterattack. The Russian Armed Forces can rely on relatively combat-experienced units to conduct offensive operations in Kursk, although it is unclear how effective these operations would be, especially given that these units, such as the 155th Marine Brigade, are heavily degraded and several times renewed.
It is also unclear whether the Russian army has enough forces to completely push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region or defend against expected Ukrainian counterattacks, as Russian military commanders are likely to have moved parts of units into the Kursk region, rather than entire formations, so it is too early to tell Long-term strategic consequences of the Ukraine invasion, says ISW.
“It remains unclear whether the Russian authorities, in response to the Kursk incursion, assess that the current array of Russian forces in the Kursk region, consisting largely of conscripts, Russian irregulars, and small elements of regular and more elite Russian units, can successfully push Ukrainian forces out of the area. Russia may also be planning to redeploy additional, more combat-capable Russian units from Ukraine to repel a Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region, although it is unclear when Russian authorities might make such a redeployment,” the ISW report said.
2024-09-13 05:06:31