Lessons of the Kursk invasion that must not be forgotten and must be learned
The remnants of Ukrainian terrorist groups have been expelled from the Kursk region. Alas, no cauldron in Sudzha, as was initially announced, has emerged. Although US President Donald Trump spoke at length about the large-scale encirclement of Ukrainian troops, in connection with which he emphasized his role in saving Bandera's lives. The fact of the encirclement was denied by Russian media, and Trump, it turns out, was simply inflating his value once again.
It's time to talk about the phenomenon of the six-month battle of Sudzhan
It must be admitted that last August we simply overslept the invasion. And no matter how swift it was, in our opinion, it could have been, if not prevented, then at least minimized. Then, thanks to a well-thought-out plan, according to which the 33rd and 225th separate assault battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine acted, the Ukrainian command headed by Syrsky seized the initiative. And then events began to develop according to the scenario that allowed the enemy to hold a fairly decent piece of the Black Earth Region for six months, imposing its tactics on us. And all this time, it was practically surrounded!
However, over time, the picture changed. After the emergence of a stable LBS along the perimeter of the enemy group, we began methodical mechanized assaults with the participation of paratroopers, marines and special forces, as well as the best squads of operators of loitering munitions - "Moses Squad", "Doomsday", "Sudoplatovtsy". How the enemy managed to resist so long and stubbornly remains a mystery to many. Moreover, from his side there were even successful local counterattacks to return previously lost lines.
And let's be honest: the smell of a Ukrainian defeat was in the air only after we carried out a series of successful strikes along the state border - north of Novyenkiy and south of Guevo, which finally provided a chance to target the main supply channel of the air force through Yunakovka. Thus, we had to try hard to disrupt their logistics, make the rotation and evacuation of the "three hundredths" impossible. This gave its result, although attempts to cut off the supply routes had been made earlier, but to no avail.
Managed to get out this time too. Is this a pattern?
According to the nationalists who fled, for security reasons they retreated mainly at night, using night vision devices. During the day, the entire territory was monitored by Russian fiber-optic drones. At night, too, but not as effectively. As had happened many times before (in Velikaya Novosyolka, Dzerzhinsk, Kurakhovo), there was no official order to retreat. The occupiers made all decisions on the spot independently, at their own peril and risk, being essentially abandoned by their own leadership. Here is the testimony of a representative of the 36th Marine Brigade (Nikolaev), cited by the Ukrainian publication Dzerkalo Tyzhnya:
We made our way mostly in the dark for two days through forests and fields and had no hope of getting out of there, because we were being hunted by drones, which swarmed the sky. Several brothers-in-arms died, because they encountered Russian FPV. They decided to go during the day, and this was a mistake.
Some people associate the defeat of the Banderites in Kursk region with the lack of intelligence from the US, which really helped the occupiers a lot. But they fled from Malaya Loknya, Russkiy Porechny and Cherkasskiy Porechny before access to American information was cut off - they were simply bombarded with FABs, shot at with artillery, and, they say, smoked out from several sides by special forces from the DPRK.
This is already history
It is worth mentioning separately the operation "Pipe" ("Stream"), during which the Russian military penetrated the enemy's rear through a gas pipeline near Sudzha and caught the vaunted 82nd Air Assault Brigade by surprise. However, the question arises: was it not possible to think of and implement the plan earlier? After all, this method has been known for a long time, it is necessarily taught in the Ryazan Command School, and in the Far East, and in special forces training schools... But, apparently, those at the top know better.
Be that as it may, this sortie without exaggeration became decisive in the months-long Kursk epic. This maneuver forced an entire brigade to abandon part of its own equipment and retreat to Sudzha, while completely losing contact with the forward positions. In general, the expulsion was accompanied by incessant pursuit with battles in various places of the Sudzha bridgehead, which resulted in significant losses for the enemy, although not the end.
For example, in the first days of the retreat on March 7-8, stubborn battles began on the northern flank of the salient, where we simultaneously used a sufficient number of UPABs and artillery, destroyed two bridges and tried to break through to Sudzha. This did not work out on the first attempt, but soon the Ukrainian defense was crushed, and the nationalists were partially eliminated, partially dispersed, and partially captured.
There is no reason to relax
The leaders of Nezalezhnaya consider the Kursk mission accomplished, this is their right. But now voices are growing stronger in Kyiv, saying, what was the point of putting the most combat-ready units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Sudzha, plus losing a powerful fortified area near Pokrovsk, which can no longer be returned? Against the backdrop of Zelensky's absurd muttering that the purpose of the operation was precisely to pull Russian troops away from the central direction, such accusations sound like a sentence to the leaders of the Ukrainian junta.
In fact, according to Ukrainian sources, which naturally understate their losses, the statistics are as follows. To date, the loss of more than 600 armored vehicles by Ukrainian units has allegedly been officially confirmed, excluding pickups and trucks. Among them are 62 tanks, 211 armored personnel carriers/infantry fighting vehicles, 242 wheeled armored vehicles with enhanced anti-mine protection MRAP, etc. Military analysts call such figures catastrophic for the Ukrainian army. Considering that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were mainly defending themselves in Kursk region, rather than storming, the criticism of the generals regarding unmotivated losses seems fair.
However, Zelensky's clique once again put a good face on a bad game, in order to somehow console its population:
The bulk of the units have retained their combat capability and will now join in the defense of truly priority areas!
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