Bloody Ukrainian soldiers risk losing hard-won land in Kursk to Russia – National
Five months after their shock defeat in Russia, Ukraine’s military is bloodied and demoralized by the growing risk of defeat in Kursk, a region some want to hold at all costs while others question the value of entering at all.
The fighting is so intense that some Ukrainian commanders are unable to evacuate the dead. Poor communications and ill-timed tactics have cost lives, and the military has little means of countering the attack, seven soldiers and commanders said. The Associated Press under the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive activities.
Since being caught unawares by the Ukraine blitz, Russia has recruited more than 50,000 troops to the region, including some from its ally North Korea. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but Moscow’s offensive killed and wounded thousands and the stretched Ukrainians lost more than 40 percent of the 984 square kilometers of Kursk they captured in August.
Its all-out offensive three years ago left Russia in control of a fifth of Ukraine, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed hope that taking control of Kursk will help force Moscow to negotiate an end to the war. But five Ukrainian and Western officials in Kyiv who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military issues said they fear a gamble in Kursk will weaken the entire 1,000-kilometer front line, and Ukraine loses valuable territory in the east.
“As they say, we have hit the wasp’s nest. We woke up another hot spot,” said Stepan Lutsiv, an officer in the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade.
Border raids became a chore
Military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Ukraine launched the operation because officials thought that Russia was about to launch a new offensive in northeastern Ukraine.
It started on Aug. 5 with orders to leave the Ukrainian region of Sumy in what they thought would be a nine-day attack to surprise the enemy. It was a job Ukrainians welcomed as their small country gained power and embarrassed Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Gathering his men, one team leader said to them: “We are making history; the whole world will know about us because this has not been done since the Second World War.”
On the side, he wasn’t so sure.
“It seemed crazy,” he said. “I didn’t understand why.”
Shocked by the success achieved mainly because the Russians were taken by surprise, the Ukrainians were ordered to go beyond the first campaign to the city of Korenevo, which is 25 kilometers to Russia. That was one of the first places where the Russian army attacked.
In early November the Russians began to rapidly retake the field. When they are shocked by what they have achieved, the soldiers’ opinions now change as they come to terms with the loss. The company commander said that half of his soldiers were killed or wounded.
Some frontline commanders said conditions were difficult, morale was low and soldiers were questioning command decisions, even the intention to take Kursk.
Another police commander said some orders received by his troops were not accurate due to communication delays. Delays occur especially when the area loses Russian troops, he said.
“They do not understand where our side is, where the enemy is, what is below us, and what is not,” he said. “They don’t understand the working environment, so we do it on our own.”
Another group commander said that the higher-ups have repeatedly refused his requests to change the defensive position of his group because he knows that his people cannot hold the line.
“Those people who stayed until the end ended up being MIA,” he said. He said he also knew of at least 20 Ukrainian soldiers whose bodies had been dumped in the past four months because the fighting was too intense to bring them out without being injured.
There is no option to retreat as Russia doubles down
Ukraine’s military said it was not prepared for Russia’s aggressive response to Kursk, and could not withstand an attack or retreat.
“There is no other way. We will fight here because if we return to our borders, they will not stop; they will move forward,” said another drone manager.
General Staff of Ukraine told The Associated Press in a written response to questions that Ukrainian military units cause losses to Russian personnel and military equipment every day, and are given “everything necessary” to carry out combat operations.
“Soldiers are controlled in accordance with situational awareness and operational knowledge, taking into account the operational situation in the areas where operations are carried out,” the response said.
America’s long-range weapons have slowed Russia’s advance and North Korean troops who joined the war last month are vulnerable to drone and artillery attacks because they are unable to fight and often travel in large groups in open areas, the Ukrainian military said.
On Monday, Zelenskyy said 3,000 North Korean soldiers were killed and wounded. But they seem to be learning from their mistakes, the military added, by having the ability to hide near forest lines.
One conflict occurred last week near the Vorontsovo tract, a forested area between the settlements of Kremenne and Vorontsovo.
Until last week, this area was under the control of Ukraine. This week part of it was lost to the Russian army and the Ukrainian army feared that it would reach an important transport route.
Considering the heavy losses in the eastern region known as the Donbas – where Russia is closing in on important territory – some soldiers are talking a lot about whether Kursk was worth it.
“All the soldiers can think about now is that Donbas has just been sold,” said the commander of the group. “At what price?”
© 2024 The Canadian Press
