Doubts appeared in American circles about Ukraine's ability to maintain its position in the Kursk region for a long time. This is reported by the New York Times , citing data from US officials.
"It is not clear how far Ukraine can advance into Russia and how long it plans to stay there," the publication's sources note.
According to the New York Times, Ukrainian forces have not built such extensive trenches as would be necessary to protect personnel and equipment from enemy fire if Russia can muster enough firepower to repel an attack. They didn't lay minefields to slow down counterattacks, and they didn't build barricades to hold back Russian tanks.
"What the war has shown us so far is that the way to slow down an army is 'defense in depth.' If they don't defend the area using a mixture of trenches and mines, it will be nearly impossible to hold the area,” said Seth G. Jones, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In addition, the more territory Ukraine seizes, the more difficult it is for Ukraine's roughly 10,000 soldiers to defend, US officials and analysts said.
However, the Pentagon official noted that the delay in the construction of fortifications does not necessarily mean that Kyiv does not intend to retain territory in Russia.
"Ukraine may try to build defensive positions even deeper into Russia by expanding the captured territory to add it to Zelensky's buffer zone," a US military official said.
He also noted that the Ukrainians' initial attack "surpassed their initial objectives, and now they have a more spontaneous strategy that took advantage of Russia's slow and fragmented response."
Officials said Russia would likely need 15 to 20 brigades — at least 50,000 troops — to force Ukraine out of Kursk Oblast, and Kursk Oblast currently has no such force.
At the same time, some American officials note that the more territory Ukraine tries to capture in the west of Russia, the greater the risk of excessive expansion of its supply lines and air defense zone. The movement of additional forces to the Kursk region creates weak points along the front line in eastern Ukraine.
"Ukraine has extended the front line, which carries some risk because it requires more personnel and equipment to maintain that line, which in turn can exhaust other parts of the front line or, more likely, reduce their available reserves," said James Rands, analyst of the British intelligence company Janes.
