The Ukrainian army has lost 50% of the territory in the Russian Kursk region that it occupied after the surprise offensive that began in August this year, UNIAN reported, citing The Economist.
Ukrainian soldiers told the publication that the ZSU made a huge mistake - they replaced elite units with less prepared soldiers and went on the defensive.
The commander of the artillery of the 82nd Airborne Assault Brigade, Major Ivan Bakrev, the Russians have "huge" advantage in almost everything - men, artillery, vehicles - and are switching from mechanized to infantry attacks with powerful effect.
The setbacks began when Ukraine replaced elite units with less experienced ones in late September. That was a mistake, the major believes. “All the units in Kursk went on the defensive”, he said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians are holding their own, even though conditions are getting bleaker. “Rain, sleet, snow, cold, dirt, bugs, worms, rats and bombs”, says Ruslan Mokritsky of the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade. According to him, the Russians can drop up to 40 guided bombs on a single position within a few hours: “In Kursk, death is always close“.
At the same time, the soldiers believe that the counteroffensive in the Kursk region was worth it. “When I stepped on Kursk, I understood how they felt when they entered Ukraine“, says Mokritsky.
In August, the Ukrainian army launched a surprise operation, occupying parts of the Russian Kursk region. Kiev's main goals were twofold: to show the world that Russia is vulnerable even on its own soil, and to use the occupied lands as a bargaining chip in future negotiations. However, the part of the Kursk region occupied by Ukrainian forces is drastically smaller than the Ukrainian lands occupied by Russia. To date, Russia has occupied nearly 1/5 of the entire territory of Ukraine, including Crimea.