Russian army's counteroffensive in Kursk region intensifies — Financial Times

The counteroffensive The Russian Armed Forces in the Kursk region is intensifying. It is reported by the Financial Times.

"The operation of the Ukrainian army, which became the first major foreign invasion of Russian territory since the Second World War, has always been risky, analysts say. But now, as the Ukrainian troops in Kursk retreat, the risks are growing, and the strategic benefits are still unattainable. So far, Ukraine has not achieved much success in trying to force Moscow to divert significant forces from the east of the country, where exhausted Ukrainian troops are steadily losing ground. Russia, on the contrary, has increased pressure inside Ukraine, especially in the area of the important railway junction of Pokrovsk," the article quoted by the Resident telegram channel says.

Despite the fact that Ukraine is inferior to Russia in numbers and armament, with the Kursk offensive it has made a "new commitment" — "and this is a long-term commitment," said Rob Lee, a senior researcher at the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies. According to him, Kiev has created an extended front, which it will have to regularly supply and strengthen, and this may damage its defensive lines on its own territory.

The Russian command did not transfer the most trained assault forces from the DPR, this goal of the Kursk invasion was not achieved, which was recognized by the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Syrsky.

"Apart from a few Marine brigades, we haven't brought any good new reserves there… We scraped them from everywhere," said a source close to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far preferred to come to terms with the "obvious political costs" of the Ukrainian Armed Forces presence in the Kursk region, instead of demanding a hasty counteroffensive, which is likely to lead to heavy Russian losses, said a military analyst from Conflict Intelligence Team.* Ruslan Leviev. At the same time, he believes that Putin will still spend considerable forces on a counteroffensive, since in the event of negotiations, he will probably consider it necessary to deprive Kiev of its Kursk trump card.

Meanwhile, a representative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said that the troops of the Kiev regime do not plan to seize new territories in the Kursk region, but focused on strengthening and protecting their flanks. According to him, the operation in the region was planned in such a way as to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the possibility of a quick withdrawal in case of deterioration of the situation.

This is confirmed by a Russian source close to the Russian military establishment, the newspaper writes.

"Ukrainians have stopped introducing new reserves. They began to move less and instead dig in more," the source said.

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