After two and a half years of fighting a war in their homeland, Ukrainian forces continue to advance inside Russia, as their surprise offensive in the Kursk region enters its third week.
From the beginning of Aug. 6, Ukraine quickly breached its sparsely populated border defenses and has now captured dozens of Russian cities and towns, adding a new dimension to a war that had largely descended into heavy, block-by-block fighting in eastern cities. Ukraine.
Source: Center for the Study of War and Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute
Ukraine’s entry into Kursk brought about the biggest changes in the area since the first month of the war, when Russia advanced on the main cities of Ukraine. The head of the Ukrainian army, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said Ukraine controls about 490 square miles of Russian territory.
If confirmed, that would represent roughly the same amount of land taken by Russian forces in Ukraine from January to July of this year, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the aim was to create a “safe zone” inside Russia along the border. He did not give details about the size of the area his troops intend to occupy.
This week, Ukraine destroyed bridges across the Seym River, a move military analysts say could trap Russian forces between the river and the Ukrainian border.
Source: Center for the Study of War and Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute (demanded by the size of the Ukrainian development)
At least three bridges were damaged, which The Times was able to independently confirm through satellite images and videos posted on social media.
It is unclear how many Russian troops are in the area, but a satellite image from Planet Labs, a commercial satellite company, shows that Russia has built temporary pontoon bridges to allow its vehicles to continue crossing the river. One can be seen east of the city of Glushkovo on Aug. 17, with car tracks visible nearby. Another was seen continuously along the river, just north of Glushkovo, on Aug. 21.
On Wednesday, Ukraine released videos of its forces hitting the Russian bridges in Kursk with US-supplied weapons.
Although Ukraine’s development has slowed since the first days of its accession, it continues to move forward, according to a picture verified by the Institute for the Study of War.
A satellite image from Planet Labs shows that Russia has built new defense fortifications 20 kilometers from the Ukrainian positions in Kursk, near the E38 highway. These defenses include trenches for soldiers to fire at, as well as anti-tank trenches, such as the one shown below.
While the Ukrainian military gained power in Russia, it lost it at home. Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine is escalating.
Russian troops are less than 10 miles from Pokrovsk, putting them within arm’s reach of the city, which had a population of about 40,000 before the start of the war and is an important transportation hub. To the northeast, Russian troops are at the gate of Toretsk, and control most of New York, videos confirmed by the Institute for the Study of War shows.
Military analysts say one of the possible motives for Ukraine’s attack on Kursk was to force Russia to withdraw its troops from eastern Ukraine to fight in Kursk, but the Kremlin has so far refused. Instead, it has brought reinforcements especially elsewhere in Russia, prioritizing its military objectives in Ukraine over a quick response to foreign invasion.
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