Ukraine’s lightning attack on Russia has thrown Putin’s forces into disarray, defence ministry says

Ukraine’s advance towards Russia has left Vladimir Putin’s border defences in “disarray”, the Defence Ministry said yesterday.

A Defence Ministry analysis of the attack inside Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions said Moscow’s defences were not ready but warned that forces had been redeployed.

Russia has suffered its heaviest losses since the start of the war in the past three months, according to intelligence updates.

In a post on social media, the Defense Ministry said: “Poorly trained Russian troops are being used as cannon fodder in an attempt to overwhelm strong Ukrainian defenses.”

Russia has accused NATO and the West of aiding the incursion into Ukraine, including allowing the use of military equipment and weapons.

A Defense Ministry analysis of the attack said Moscow’s defenses were not prepared. Pictured: Ukrainian snipers and infantrymen from the 22nd Brigade conduct reinforcement training near Ukraine’s northern border with Russia on August 10.

A Russian soldier fires a Rapira anti-tank gun in the border area of ​​the Kursk region

It is understood that British Challenger 2 tanks were used, and UK government policy allows Ukraine to use British weapons on Russian soil, although not long-range Storm Shadow missiles.

In an article published in the Mail today, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson says it is time to allow Russia to use powerful missiles domestically.

A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks in Kursk and Belgorod were aimed at forcing Putin to the negotiating table, not an attempt to seize Russian territory.

Mykhailo Podoliak said: “We need to inflict a significant strategic defeat on Russia. In the Kursk region, we clearly see how the military tool is intentionally used to persuade the Russian Federation to enter into a fair negotiation process.”

Moscow says its forces are resisting the advance and says it has carried out successful airstrikes against Ukrainian forces in Kursk.

It came as Russian troops approached Pokrovsk, the main city of Donetsk, prompting kyiv to tell residents to leave.

Moscow says its forces are resisting the advance. Photo: August 15 Vladimir Putin

Local volunteers walk past a building damaged by a Ukrainian attack in Kursk on August 16, 2024.

Evacuees queue to fill out humanitarian aid forms at a distribution centre in Kursk on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officers fighting in the Kursk offensive have urged Britain to give the green light to using Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia.

The deployment of long-range British rockets will allow Kiev forces to attack critical infrastructure up to 150 miles along the Russian border and cut vital supply lines, Captain Dmytro Lantushenko of a mortar brigade involved in the Kusk offensive announced yesterday.

“Those who are able to control their supply flows can maximise their forces… If we had Storm Shadow we could attack logistics centres and railways and disrupt those lines,” he told The Times.

Soldiers in kyiv have reportedly already used British-made weapons in their operations in Russia.

Several Challenger-2 tanks are believed to have been smuggled across the border as part of the strike force, although yesterday Russian military bloggers celebrated that a drone had successfully destroyed one of the British-made vehicles used in the attack.

A day after Lantushenko called for Storm Shadow missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said drones were simply not enough to destroy Russian military infrastructure and destroyed its advantage at Kursk.

Storm Shadow missiles are seen attached to the hardpoints of the Eurofighter Typhoon

Ukraine has already used Storm Shadow missiles, with an accuracy of more than 150 miles, to hit targets in Russian-controlled territory to great effect.

Late last year, a huge explosion was filmed in a Crimean port in what is believed to have been the impact of a storm on a Russian naval ship.

“Our Ukrainian drones work exactly as they should, but unfortunately there are things that cannot be done with drones alone,” the Ukrainian president said in his Wednesday evening speech.

“We need other weapons: missiles… a long-term decision for Ukraine. This must be done. The bolder the decisions of our partners, the less capable Putin will be in this regard.”

NATO’s last remaining member, Sweden, said yesterday morning that Ukraine has the right to defend itself both inside and outside its territory, and kyiv’s Western allies appear to be backing the Kursk incursion.

But authorising the use of long-range missiles on Russian soil would mark a major shift from British, US and European governments which have so far provided weapons to kyiv on condition they are not used for offensive attacks against Russia.

A Ukrainian soldier drives a Challenger-2 tank along a dirt road on August 3, 2023 in Ukraine.

Sir Keir Starmer told reporters on his way to Washington for Nato’s 75th anniversary summit in July that the decision to use UK-supplied Storm Shadow long-range missiles was for Ukraine’s armed forces.

Vladimir Putin and senior Russian officials have consistently touted that any Western country using the weapon to attack Russian soil would be considered to have entered into a direct conflict, raising fears that such a move could trigger the outbreak of World War III.

But Taras Kuzio, a professor of political science at the kyiv-Mohela Academy of National University, said the Kursk attack showed that fears of crossing a Russian “red line” that could lead to nuclear escalation were “a myth”.

Sir Keir Starmer told reporters on his way to Washington for Nato’s 75th anniversary summit in July that decisions to use UK-supplied Storm Shadow long-range missiles were for Ukraine’s armed forces.

Many believe this indicates that kyiv was authorized to use the missile to attack targets on Russian soil.

But Downing Street was later forced to clarify that while Ukraine was allowed to use UK-supplied weapons in Russia, it was not allowed to deploy long-range missiles.