Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the offensive of the Russian army in the Kursk region, the beginning of which Russian and Ukrainian sources reported on Tuesday evening. "The Russians have started counter-offensive actions. This is happening in accordance with our plan," Zelensky said on Thursday in the capital of Ukraine.
At the same time, the Ukrainian military has not yet commented on the counteroffensive of the Russian army in the Kursk region. A representative of one of the Ukrainian brigades advancing on the Kursk direction denied to DV that there was a Russian counter-offensive. "Everything the Russians write does not correspond to reality. Nothing is happening with us, there are no changes," assured the source, who wished to remain anonymous.
Spokesmen for other brigades neither confirmed nor denied that there was a Russian advance in the direction of Kursk. Vadim Misnik, a spokesman for the Northern Operational-Tactical Group of Troops, also declined to comment. "The operation continues. Only the top management can comment," he answered a question from DV. We also sent an inquiry to the Ukrainian General Staff, but so far there is no answer.
"Partial successes" of the Russian army in the Kursk Oblast
A Ukrainian officer serving on the Kursk branch, who requested anonymity, claimed that the Russian offensive began from Gordeevka, a village in the Koreniv district of the Kursk region. "There they have partial successes. But things are not so critical, the situation is under control. The Russians are trying to unblock their group of troops, which has fallen into a trap in the Glushkovsky district," the source told DV.
And according to observers from the ISW Institute for the Study of War, the Russian army launched a counterattack in the western part of the Kursk region. "It is possible that Russian forces intend to cut off the Ukrainian units there before taking more serious actions to push them out of Russian territory," analysts suggest. However, according to them, it is still too early to draw any conclusions. Previously, the Ukrainian DeepState project reported that Russian units managed to transport armored vehicles across the Seym River and other smaller rivers in the region.
What does Moscow say and is there evidence of the counteroffensive
On Thursday (September 12), Russia officially announced the start of the counteroffensive in the Kursk region. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the Russians had regained control over ten settlements - Apanasovka, Byahovo, Vishnevka, Viktorovka, Vnezapnoe, Gordeevka, Krasnooktomvriysko, Obukhovka, Snagost and Tenth of October. Russian pro-Kremlin channels in Telegram also write that these settlements have been liberated.
Visual evidence of the offensive, however, does not fully support these claims. There are video materials with Russian soldiers in the village of Krasnooktomvriysko and footage of battles near the village of Vishnevka - these are the western borders of the territory controlled by Ukraine in the Kursk region.
The probable advance of Russian forces from the west could threaten the northern Ukrainian units. It is believed that Ukrainian forces may have made several attempts to cross the Russian border west of the Snagost area to get to the rear. From this, independent Russian military analyst Yan Matveev concludes that "the risk remains that the Russian units attacking in the east will be surrounded". Russian pro-Kremlin channels in Telegram, in particular Wargonzo, write about such attempts by Ukrainians and publish video materials in confirmation of these claims. However, there is no independent data on how successful these actions are. The Russian Ministry of Defense reports that Russian forces have repelled four attempts to break through in this direction.
The Ukrainian breakthrough in the Kursk region
Russian authorities first announced the Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region on August 6. Ukraine confirmed the offensive on August 12. According to the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Sirsky, as of August 27, Ukrainian forces controlled 100 Russian settlements and 1,300 square kilometers of Russian territory.
Authors: Anna Sokolova, Mikhail Bushuev