The counteroffensive of Russian forces in the Kursk region is intensifying – Financial Times

Russian forces are intensifying their counteroffensive in the Kursk region, while Ukrainian forces have stopped deploying new reserves and are instead digging in more.

This was reported by the Financial Times.

“An operation by the Ukrainian army, which became the first major foreign incursion into Russian territory since World War II, was always risky, analysts say. But now, as Ukrainian forces in Kursk retreat, the risks are growing, and strategic gains remain elusive. So far, Ukraine has not made significant progress in forcing Moscow to divert considerable forces from the east of the country, where Ukraine’s exhausted troops are steadily losing ground. Russia, on the other hand, has increased pressure within Ukraine, particularly in the area of the important railway hub of Pokrovsk,” the publication writes.

Despite being outnumbered and outgunned by Russia, Ukraine took on a “new commitment” with the Kursk offensive, said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, “and it’s a long-term commitment.”

Kyiv has created an extended front that it will have to constantly supply and reinforce, which could harm its defensive lines on its own territory, Lee believes. Ukrainian troops could take advantage of tree cover to dig in, he added, but this advantage will disappear in winter when the foliage falls, making it “easier to see where the positions are.”

The publication writes that Putin has not redeployed the most trained assault forces from the Donetsk region. This goal was not achieved, admitted the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky.

“Apart from a few marine brigades, we have not brought any good new reserves there… We scraped them together from everywhere,” said a person close to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Military analyst Ruslan Leviev from the Conflict Intelligence Team believes: “Despite the fact that Putin was obviously extremely angry about the breach in the Kursk region, he did not make emotional decisions, so we did not see a ‘quickly grab everyone and send them to retake Kursk’ strategy.”

Putin has so far chosen to put up with the “obvious political costs” of the presence of Ukrainian troops on sovereign Russian territory, Leviev said, instead of demanding a hasty counteroffensive that would likely result in heavy Russian losses.

At the same time, Leviev believes that Putin will still spend significant forces on a counteroffensive, as in the case of negotiations, he will probably consider it necessary to deprive Ukraine of its Kursk trump card.

Meanwhile, a representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated that the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not plan to capture new territories in the Kursk region but are working on strengthening and protecting their flanks. According to him, the operation in Kursk was always planned in such a way as to ensure the Ukrainian troops’ ability to retreat quickly in case of a worsening situation.

This is confirmed by a Russian source.

“The Ukrainians have stopped bringing in new reserves. They have become less mobile and are instead digging in more,” said a person close to the Russian military establishment.

Earlier, Deep State confirmed the loss of the village of Snagost and the surrounding settlements in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.