Secretary of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence Roman Kostenko (Holos faction) expressed doubt about the ability of the Russian Federation army to oust units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the territory of the Kursk region by October 1. Kostenko made this statement at a briefing on Wednesday, noting that the current situation on the front is difficult for Russian troops.
“If we act with the same strength and pace, and we are acting seriously there, currently building bridgeheads to the west and east, if we continue to do this, then it will be difficult for Putin to achieve his goals,” Kostenko said. He emphasized that Ukrainian units in the Kursk region have significant combat experience, while the Russian units that were sent to fight them are less prepared and scattered in different directions.
According to Kostenko, everything will depend on the efforts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “If we can inflict such losses on them that they will not be able to advance further, they will have to bring up reserves,” he added, pointing to the possibility of transferring Russian reserves from other zones of active hostilities, such as eastern and southern Ukraine.
The People's Deputy noted that the operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region has a significant impact on the overall situation on the front. “There were several tasks in the Kursk operation. Some of them were completed, some were not. But one of them was to force the enemy to transfer its troops. And what do we see? The fact that the enemy has really started to transfer part of its troops. We know about the 200th brigade from the Kramatorsk direction, the 80th from the Dnieper. They started to transfer part of their troops, but the strategic direction for them is Pokrovsk. And we see that, even understanding that they do not have reserves to retake Kursk, they are still betting on the territory of Donetsk,” Kostenko noted.
The media previously reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to oust the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the Kursk region by October 1. However, as the situation on the front shows, the implementation of this order is quite problematic due to the complexity and dynamics of the fighting.
