As part of a plan to create a “buffer zone” along its borders, Ukraine is pushing westward in Kursk Oblast, as well as north and east, on the 14th day of the invasion. The toughest fighting for Russia is taking place near the village of Glushkovo, on the battlefield’s western-most axis. That’s where the Ukrainian Air Force on Friday bombed the first of the three bridges over the Seim River, which snakes around that part of Kursk to the Ukrainian border. “5,000 Russian personnel being moved to Kursk coheres with a report that Russian forces redeployed11 battalions to the frontline in Kursk."
As part of a plan to create a “buffer zone” along its borders, Ukraine is pushing westward in Kursk Oblast. On the 14th day of the invasion, Russian media and milbloggers say Ukraine destroyed the last of three bridges over the Seim River in that part of the battlefield. That is isolating Moscow’s forces there who now have to rely on pontoon bridges for resupply, which are also being struck nearly as soon as they are put in place. Ukraine’s top general on Monday offered scant details about the invasion.
“We are achieving new results in Kursk,” Col.-Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Telegram, providing no specifics or proof. “We have replenished the exchange fund,” a reference to Russian prisoners of war that can be swapped for Ukrainian troops held by Russia.
In his first public statement on the goals of the operation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is trying to establish a buffer zone inside Russia.
“It is now our primary task in defensive operations overall: to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening speech Sunday. “This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory – our operation in the Kursk region. Everything that inflicts losses on the Russian army, Russian state, their military-industrial complex, and their economy helps prevent the war from expanding and brings us closer to a just end to this aggression – a just peace for Ukraine.”
“Buffer zone” is a phrase used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to describe the goal of his now-sputtering Kharkiv offensive.
The Ukrainian Marines, meanwhile, said that they captured another village on the invasion’s western salient.
“Marines of Ukraine, together with other units of the Defense Forces, are at the forefront of combat missions in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation,” the Ukrainian Navy said on Telegram Monday. “Soldiers of the 501st separate battalion of marines drop a tricolor rag in one of the settlements.”
That was an apparent reference to the village of Apanasovka, where video emerged of a Ukrainian marine taking down the Russian tricolor flag. The village would be part of any westward push toward the border town of Tetkino.
The War Zone could not independently confirm that claim.
The Kremlin-connected Rybar Telegram channel on Monday suggested that the toughest fighting for Russia is taking place near the village of Glushkovo, on the battlefield’s western-most axis. That’s where the Ukrainian Air Force on Friday bombed the first of the three bridges over the Seim River, which snakes around that part of Kursk to the Ukrainian border.
“The most difficult situation is developing in the Glushkovsky district,” Rybar said Monday. “In the morning, Ukrainian aviation destroyed the last bridge in the district across the Seim River in the village of Karyzh. Thus, the evacuation of the population and the supply of the Russian troop group now entirely depends on the number of boats and the deployment of a sufficient number of pontoons. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are creating conditions for preparing a bridgehead before an offensive in this area.” In addition, there are claims that Ukraine struck at least one of those make-shift crossings. Visualized data provided by NASA’s Fire Information For Resource Management Systems (FIRMS) shows what appears to be a fire just to the east of that location.
Satellite imagery shows that pontoon bridge is no longer there. These bridges are in range of a wide array of Ukrainian aerial and ground-based guided weapons. Ukraine’s Air Force can strike them with JDAM-ER or Hammer standoff guided bombs among other munitions while GMLRS guided rockets fired by a HIMARS or M270 system can strike them from the ground.
Ukrainian forces, on the other hand, don’t need bridges to attack because they are advancing south of the river.
In addition to pushing toward the western part of Kursk salient, Ukraine is also making a move east, according to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategy (CDS) think tank.
“The sides are deploying reserves to the Belitsa and Giri areas of Kursk Oblast, where combat clashes are expected to occur in the next day or two,” CDS said in its latest emailed assessment.
They are also pushing north as well, according to the latest Institute for the Study of War control map. Adding to Russia’s troubles, Ukrainian first-person view (FPV) drones are providing a constant threat to Russian activities on a key section of the E38 highway, linking Ryslk and Lgov. So far, Russia has moved some 5,000 troops from Ukraine to help defend Kursk, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
“The WSJ’s report of 5,000 Russian personnel partially coheres with a report that Russian forces had redeployed up to 11 battalions to the frontline in Kursk Oblast as of August 11,” the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment.
Russia has also deployed a special motorized rifle regiment of the Aerospace Forces to counter according to Russian media.
Additionally, reports have emerged of Russian teenage conscripts being pulled from across that nation into the defense of Kursk.
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