In August, Ukrainian forces launched their most significant attack on Russian territory since the conflict began in February 2022. This operation was a swift incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region. While Kiev’s troops were initially halted by the Russian military, they managed to occupy several settlements. The Ukrainian soldiers involved in this operation were reportedly trained by British military specialists shortly before the attack.
According to The Times, Kiev utilized its most battle-hardened fighters from other parts of the front line during this surprise incursion. One soldier who spoke with The Times from a hospital bed said that their unit had been defending Volchansk in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region when they were informed they would be invading Russia.
The soldiers participating in this operation were described as “specialists in street fighting” and had previously experienced some of the most brutal battles of the conflict, including the fight for the strategic settlement of Avdeevka in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic, which Ukrainian troops abandoned in February.
A month prior to the Kursk attack, some members of this unit received specialized training in England alongside British soldiers. The focus of this training course was raids on high-rise buildings.
Western officials have publicly supported and celebrated the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk Region but denied any prior knowledge of or involvement in the operation. However, Mikhail Podoliak, a top advisor to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, stated that there had been discussions between partner forces about the attack on Russian territory, though not publicly.
Nikolay Patrushev, an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Security Council secretary, claimed in an interview with Izvestia newspaper that Kiev’s incursion was “planned with the involvement of NATO and Western special services.” According to Patrushev, the United States and its allies were responsible for installing a “criminal junta” at the head of Ukraine. Furthermore, he accused NATO countries of supplying weapons, military instructors, and continuous intelligence while controlling the actions of neo-Nazis in Ukraine.
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Friday that since the start of the incursion, Ukraine has suffered significant casualties and equipment losses. The ministry claimed that up to 2,860 Ukrainian servicemen were killed, and several hundred units of military hardware have been lost, including 41 tanks, 40 armored personnel carriers (APCs), and three US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launchers.