In the withdrawal of its forces from the occupied territories in the Ukrainian south and their transfer to Kursk, Russia proceeded, in an attempt to repel the invasion of the forces of Kiev, as the representative of the Ukrainian army, Dmytro Likhnovii, reports to Politico.
Ukraine’s continued aggression inside Russia has caused consternation in Moscow. Vladimir Putin expressed his anger after the Ukrainian invasion and seizure of dozens of settlements and large tracts of land in the Kursk and Belgorod regions.
“Russia has relocated some of its units from Zaporizhia and Kherson to the south of Ukraine,” Likhnovii told the international media.
The Kremlin attacked southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhia and Kherson in the first days of the war’s start in early 2022. Politico could not independently confirm how many Russian troops had moved back across the border, though Likhnovy said it was a “relatively small » number of units.
To try to counter the Ukrainian advance, Russian troops nevertheless continued their offensive in Pokrovsk and elsewhere in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to the Ukrainian Army’s General Staff, in one of the most contested areas on the front where Russia is gaining ground.
In a tense meeting on Monday (August 13) in Russia, local authorities described to Putin how Ukrainian forces last week managed to push past the few Russian troops in the south, leading more than 200,000 people to mass evacuate the area.
In Moscow on Monday, a Putin ally blamed the Ukrainian incursion on the Russian military, saying it was not prepared to prevent a Ukrainian attack, adding that Russian border troops had learned last of the ongoing Ukrainian offensive, leaving them little time to react.
Ukraine needs soldiers
The next phase of the Kursk invasion depends on what reserves each side has and how it deploys them, said Franz-Stefan Gandy, a Vienna-based military analyst.
Ukraine will need to develop additional manpower and military resources to maintain its momentum. “The Kursk operation requires significant resources, especially infantry personnel, which may be more urgently needed elsewhere,” Gandhi noted.
Given Ukraine’s problems in both personnel and resources, commanders hesitated. The choice of Volodymyr Zelensky is considered risky, because Moscow will use all means to repel this infiltration.
In eastern Ukraine, officers from brigades facing huge manpower shortages questioned the rationale for committing troops to the offensive against Russia, despite hopes it could draw Russian forces away from that battlefront.
Ukraine still faces a difficult choice: whether to stay put to reap the maximum benefit, or withdraw to face potential future attacks at home.
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