"Kursk occupied, Donetsk gone: is Ukraine losing because it is winning in Russia?"
From the article:
"Since the start of the Kursk offensive on August 6, Russian troops have been advancing ever faster in the eastern Ukrainian Donbas. In the Donetsk region alone, they have conquered more than 230 square kilometers."
"And while the Ukrainian army was only able to take control of one small Russian town (6,000 inhabitants), Sudzha, in August alone Russia's invading army conquered five Ukrainian towns, Novohrodiivka, Krasnohorivka, Druzhba, Pivnitschne and Niu-York, which formerly had a total population of more than 53,000.
Since Thursday, the strategically important city of Pokrovsk with a population of 65,000 has also been under forced evacuation - because Russian troops are only eight kilometers away.
“Ukraine is paying a high price in the Donbas for its successes at Kursk,” says military expert Nico Lange (49), drawing a sobering interim balance of the risky operation. “The Russian pressure on Pokrovsk and the evacuations that are now necessary as a result call into question the strategy of the Ukrainian leadership,” the security expert told BILD."
"Lange sees a direct link between the successes in Kursk, Russia, and the increasingly threatening situation in the Ukrainian Donbas. This is because Kiev is thinning out its best units in the east of its own country in order to be able to advance in the west of Russia.
“Understaffed units in the Donbas cannot withstand the Russians there, which is causing internal discussions and unrest,” Lange tells BILD."
"Artis Pabriks (58), former Minister of Defense of Latvia, takes a different view. In his opinion, the Kursk operation is “a masterpiece” with which the Ukrainian leadership held up a mirror to both Russia and the West."
From other articles about Kursk:
"More than three weeks have passed since the Ukrainian surprise attack on the Russian region of Kursk. The offensive has caught Vladimir Putin's (71) troops off guard! Ukraine is still able to hold parts of the region. But the Russians are arming themselves and striking back harder
At the beginning of the offensive, it was quiet on the Russian side, Ukrainian soldiers told BILD. Even Russian drones were not flying, says Dmytro (45), commander of a mortar unit of the 117th Brigade of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine, BILD.
But now it has “become much more intense”, Dmytro continues. “Now the shelling is constant, there are a lot of drones.”"
"The Russians would fire on Ukrainian infantry with tanks, howitzers, mortars and drones. His unit has not yet been hit. “Maybe they haven't found out exactly where we are.”"
"BILD accompanies Ukrainian Maxim (26) very close to the Russian border. He reports: “The Russians have brought more artillery into the region. They have become more active. Not just here, but everywhere on the border.”
The big concern: Russian soldiers could cross the 600-kilometre-long border towards Sumy. “They can infiltrate anywhere. So far it's more or less quiet, but the shelling has intensified.”
As a drone pilot, the young soldier is responsible for reconnaissance of Russian targets.
It is unclear what Ukraine is really aiming to achieve with the Kursk offensive. Ukraine President Volodymyr Selensky (46) described the attack as part of a plan for victory. However, Ukrainian Chief of General Staff Oleksandr Syrskyj (59) admitted that one of the aims of the Kursk operation was to “divert Russian forces from other fronts, in particular Pokrovsk and Kurakhove (Donbas, editor's note)”. In fact, however, the Russians had “intensified their efforts on the Pokrovsk front”.
"According to current information, the retaliatory strike against Russia is the largest drone attack on the neighboring country to date. The Kremlin reports that 158 Ukrainian drones were shot down over a total of 15 Russian regions on Sunday night. Most of the 122 drones were shot down over the western Russian regions of Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh and Belgorod on the border with Ukraine."
"The drone squadron even reached the Russian capital Moscow. According to Russian reports, a refinery in Moscow and two power plants were hit. A fire broke out at the Kapotnya refinery in the south-east of the capital, but the fire department was able to contain it after some time, according to the state news agency Tass."
, former Minister of Defense of Latvia, takes a different view. In his opinion, the Kursk operation is “a masterpiece” with which the Ukrainian leadership held up a mirror to both Russia and the West."
