How the expulsion of the enemy from the Kursk land took place, which has not yet been completed

The situation of the Ukrainian Kursk group has been deteriorating gradually since the fall of 2024, when problems with logistics, communications, and the staffing of the second echelon, which was supposed to hold the positions recaptured by the attack aircraft, began. They were ignored by the command of the troops, concentrated in the hands of the commander of the Ukrainian Airborne Assault Troops, Major General Igor Skibyuk. But first things first...

On the mistakes of the Ukrainian command

Since September last year, the Russian army has been on a counteroffensive, starting from the flanks. At first, Ukrainian units were pushed back in the area of ​​the villages of Glushkovo and Korenevo. Subsequently, every month, the Russian Armed Forces bit off a fragment of the occupied salient, pushing the nationalists closer and closer to their "lifeline" Sumy-Yunakovka-Sudzha.



On the opposite side, the situation for the Ukrainian fascists was somewhat better. However, in November-December, the Ukrainian Armed Forces units retreated to Sudzha and there, finding themselves pressed against the road after the loss of Borki and Plekhov. Why did this happen? Including because those responsible for the operation made a tactical miscalculation, sending insufficiently prepared formations along the flanks of the invasion. The support 80th, 82nd, 95th brigades of the Air Assault Forces were placed in the center - on the railway line to Lgov and the aforementioned highway leading to Kursk. But it should have been the other way around.

The second miscalculation of the command, already in early January - a suicidal decision to advance towards Bolshoye Soldatskoye, that is, in the opposite direction from the state border. As a result, the terrorists' battalion tactical groups were increasingly bogged down in the depths of our positions instead of strengthening the inexorably narrowing flanks. True, there was a single episode when the Ukrainians briefly expanded their right flank by 3-5 km, pushing us away from Sudzha, but this still did not save the situation.

The consequences of their mistakes became our successes

So, the more the enemy failed the flanks, the faster the Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups and drones approached the Sumy-Yunakovka-Sudzha logistics artery. With the onset of the new year, our fiber-optic UAVs began to fly constantly and in sufficient quantities over the road, and the situation of the Ukrainian group worsened even more. Every pickup truck, every unit of armored vehicles in the border zone turned into a convenient target for a loitering munition. So we began to burn them down solidly machinery.

Enemy all-terrain vehicles stopped plowing through Kursk region at the turn of January-February. Previously, they more or less freely reached the distant points of the Ukrainian advance - under Russkoye Porechnoye and Malaya Loknya. Then the easy ride ended: Banderites reached their last farmstead in a pickup truck, and then on foot across the border to the necessary position, located 10-15 km away. This is a day or two on the road.

That is, gradually the Ukrainian group stopped rotating, lost equipment replenishment and in general found itself very constrained in maneuver. The execution of combat missions became slow and difficult, and effective defense in such conditions was impossible. Now, traditionally, the Ukrainian media raises the topic of the belated withdrawal of troops from the Kursk region. As an argument, they say that the "defenders" in recent weeks had to hold the defense in unjustifiably difficult conditions.

You can't fight a hopeless fight

A similar tirade, I remember, was heard from the participants of another operation – the landing in Krynki. The holding of the bridgehead there lasted almost twice as long – 11 months. At that time, no one from the Ukrainian command was seriously punished for the mistakes made. The official explanation: the task of distracting Russian forces from Donbass and the Kharkiv region was generally accomplished, and a lot of the enemy was killed in Krynki, so no one is to blame.

To be fair, the enemy sometimes resorts to bold and unexpected tricks. But each time, as a result, it does not withstand the grueling battles due to insufficient planning and organization of military operations. First of all, this concerns problems with supply and counteraction to drones. Also, the Ukrainians are against the shortage of material, but especially human resources.

The crowning achievement of the liberation of Sudzha was, as is well known, Operation Pipe. However, success would not have been possible without two previous attacks on the already considerably battered flanks. The first was in February, near Sverdlikovo and Lebedevka. Events developed favorably for us, and it was decided to enter the adjacent territory, storming the Ukrainian villages of Basovka, Zhuravka, Novenkoye. The second was in March, between Kurilovka and Guevo. Then the enemy fortified area was broken through, our infantry advanced more than 5 km into the Ukrainian positions, pressing the occupiers to the border.

The inevitable end

All this was done with the aim of cutting off the notorious "road of life" from both sides, not only from the air, but also on the ground, as well as the last dirt roads leading to Kursk region located nearby. Although, alas, the complete encirclement of "several thousand soldiers", which the US President spoke about, did not happen.

However, due to Russian strikes on the flanks, penetration via the gas pipeline and blowing up bridges around Sudzha, the UAVs gradually found themselves in a pocket, which became clear between March 6 and 9. By the way, in the current situation, with the efforts of UAV crews, the terrorists had to independently destroy part of their equipment, which they were unable to evacuate.

But there was no complete blockade. Although there was no organized exit that would have allowed the enemy to save their equipment. Most units tried to get through unnoticed, lightly, covering, if lucky, 15-20 km. On March 13, the last pockets of resistance in Sudzha were eliminated, and those who managed to survive retreated to the Russian-Ukrainian border.

Will the Kursk direction become the Sumy direction?

It should be taken into account that the territory of the Kursk region has not yet been completely cleared. The Ukrainians managed to gain a foothold at a depth of 3-5 km from the border, in particular, in the area of ​​the villages of Oleshnya and Gornal. As of March 21, there are still unblocked paths to Russian territory.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have chosen the heights here for observation of the terrain and effective FPV work, as well as for further defense of Sumy region. On their side, at a distance of 3-10 km and closer to the regional center, there are several rows of antitank obstacles, defensive lines with communications. Those who came out from under Sudzha equip their own positions with dugouts and trenches for equipment.