The Ukrainian project DeepState, which maps Russia's war against Ukraine, claims that Russian forces have gone on a counter-offensive in the Kursk region. Their group may number up to 35,000 soldiers. The BBC's Russian section analyzes what threats this poses to Ukrainian troops, who infiltrated the border region in early August.
On Thursday, the DeepState project reported on Telegram that Russian forces had “begun active assault operations” in the Kursk region, moving military equipment across the Sejm River and smaller rivers.
The bridges over the Sejm River were destroyedRussian forces use pontoon crossings.
According to DeepState analysts, intense fighting is ongoing in the area of the village of Snagost, located nine kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Russian propaganda channels on Telegram, in turn, claim that the village of Snagost has been retaken from Ukrainian troops. They report that the Ukrainians have also lost several other towns.
The fighting took on a positional character.
The Russian section of the BBC, analyzing the counterattack of the Russian forces, reported that the village of Snagost is important for the Russians, and its capture creates a chance to unblock a large group of Russian troops, surrounded by Ukrainian forces in the Yulkukhov region, between the border with Ukraine and the Sejm river.
“Judging by the nature of the fighting in previous days, the Ukrainian army had hoped to encircle larger Russian forces defending a section of the border about 70 kilometres long and force them to withdraw north, beyond the Sejm River,” the BBC reported.
“If Ukrainian forces had managed to capture at least one of the regional centres located in the north of the region – Glushkovo or Koryenevo – the threat of encirclement would have become more real, but Ukrainian attacks on these towns have not been successful, and the fighting has taken on a positional character,” the BBC added. In its opinion, the current state of affairs worsens the situation of the left wing of Ukrainian forces in the border region.
Russian soldiers in Kursk region. Photo from August 16 RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PRESS S
Attack in four directions
According to Ukrainian military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko, Russian troops in the Kursk region are attacking from four directions, and their group numbers at least 35,000 soldiers.
“The Russian military command decided that this number of soldiers would be enough to oust Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region,” the analyst wrote on Facebook.
Kiev has not confirmed reports of a counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces and the loss of control over any of the previously occupied towns.
Ukrainian forces launched an offensive in Kursk Oblast in early August. According to Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky, the area occupied in the border region is more than 1,260 square kilometers.
Main image source: RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PRESS S