Utterly Confused, Demoralized Ukrainian Troops

"They don't understand where our side is, where the enemy is, what's under our control, and what isn't."

"They don't understand the operational situation, we so act at our own discretion."

Ukraine troop commander

"There's no other option. We'll fight here because if we just pull back to our borders, they won't stop; they'll keep advancing."

"All the military can think about now is that Donbas has simply been sold."

"At what price?"

Ukrainian drone unit commander

In this photo taken from a video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, Russian serviceman aims a D-30 howitzer towards Ukrainian positions in Kursk region.  Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

Ukrainian troops, once so buoyed by their initial success in pushing Russian troops back from their own national territory over the border into Kursk during their shock offensive, are now bludgeoned by the inevitable response, repulsed, bloodied and demoralized. The early heady days of success are now behind them; what lies ahead is quite different; the prospect of defeat and retreat from Kursk. Uncertainty is now their constant companion.

They have faced intense battles, so much so that commanders have found themselves in the position of having to abandon all thought of recovering the bodies of their dead servicemen. Communication is sporadic and lagging, lives have been lost thanks to poor timing, leaving troops little opportunity to counterattack, according to front-line commanders and soldiers speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Russia has recovered from its humiliatingly unexpected surprise of being caught unaware by the Ukrainian incursion whose lightning advance five months ago was so stunningly staged. Since then, Moscow has amassed over 50,000 troops in the region. Russia's ally, North Korea, has stepped forward with the offer of supplemental troops from its own military.

 

A destroyed Russian tank sits on a roadside near the town of Sudzha, Russia, in the Kursk region, on Aug. 16, 2024, in an image approved by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry before publication. 

 

The counterattacks by Russia have been responsible for killing and wounding thousands. The Ukrainian military, badly overstretched, has lost over 40 percent of the 984 square kilometres of Russian territory it had amassed and seized back in August. Russia, on the other hand, since its invasion three years earlier now holds a fifth of Ukraine. The hope is now fading that the Kursk tactic might present a counterweight in negotiations, convincing Moscow to release Ukrainian territory in exchange for a negotiation over the Kursk region and an end to the war.

Matters have reached a new low for Kyiv whose internal advisers and western officials envision that the gamble on Kursk may weaken the entire 1000-kilometre front line, while Ukraine continues to lose more of its territory in the east. "We have, as they say, hit a hornet's nest. We have stirred up another hot spot", Stepan Lutsiv, a major in the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade, admitted.

 

A Ukrainian soldier walks past a city hall in Sudzha, in the Kursk region of Russia, on Aug. 16, 2024. This image was approved by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry before publication

 

According to Army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine launched the Kursk operation when officials felt Russia was on the cusp of launching a new attack on northeast Ukraine. An order to leave Ukraine's Sumy region on August 5 for what was generally felt to be a nine-day raid to stun the enemy, instead turned into an occupation, enabling Ukraine's smaller military to gain leverage while embarrassing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

 

The Ukrainian military ordered an advance beyond the original mission to the town of Korenevo, 25 kilometres into Russia, to take greater advantage of the success that was achieved. And in the end, more latterly Korenevo was one of the first towns that Russian troops counterattacked for retrieval. Russians steadily and swiftly regained their territory by early November.

Once so proud of what they had accomplished, Ukrainian troops' optimism has been turned around, forced to come to terms with massive losses. One company commander spoke of half his troops dead, or wounded. Conditions are tough, morale is low and troops question command decisions. The very end-purpose of occupying Kursk is being questioned.

Some soldiers question more vocally whether Kursk has been worth the more recent losses experienced by their units, given their front-line losses in the eastern region of the Donbas where Russia is now closing in on a crucial supply hub.

"For three days in a row, the enemy has been conducting intensive offensive operations in the Kursk region, actively using North Korean army units."

"North Korean mercenaries have already suffered heavy losses. The Ukrainian defenders are steadfastly holding the defence, destroying enemy personnel and equipment."

"[The] most difficult situation [is currently around Kurakhove and the mining city of Pokrovsk -- two areas Russia is aiming to seize."

"[The] operational and strategic situation remains difficult [across the 1,170-kilometre (730-mile) front line, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia's troops had seized] the strategic initiative across the front."

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky

In this image taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Nov. 7, 2024, Russian soldiers fight with Ukrainian troops in the Sudzhansky district of the Kursk region of western Russia.   AP