USA: Russia has withdrawn some infantry units from eastern Ukraine after the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk

2024-08-16 08:27:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

USA: Russia has withdrawn some infantry units from eastern Ukraine after the

Illustrative photo

White House Homeland Security spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that Russia had withdrawn some troops, including infantry units, from Ukraine and was moving them to Kursk, but that the United States did not know exactly what how many Russian soldiers have moved from eastern Ukraine.

However, a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that it does not appear that Russia has moved a sufficient number of armored battalions or other types of combat power from the front line in Ukraine to Kursk and that Moscow will it needs to move more troops to push back Kiev's forces there.

Earlier on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country's troops had taken full control of Sudzha, the largest Russian city to fall to Ukrainian forces since the start of their more than a week long cross-border incursion. before.

Although it had a pre-war population of only about 5,000, Sudzha is the administrative center for the border region of Russia's Kursk region and is larger than any other city or settlement that Ukraine says it has taken over since the incursion began on August 6.

Mr. Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was setting up a military command office in Sudzha, suggesting that Ukraine may plan to stay in the Kursk region for a long time, or simply signal to Moscow that it may do so. He did not elaborate on what functions this office might perform, although he said earlier this week that Ukraine would distribute humanitarian aid to the residents of Sudzha.

Russia did not immediately respond to Mr Zelenski's claims, but its defense ministry said earlier on Thursday that Russian forces had blocked Ukrainian attempts to seize several other settlements.

The sudden Ukrainian incursion has turned the tide of the war and caused chaos in the Kursk region, leading to the evacuation of more than 120,000 civilians, according to Russian authorities, and the capture of at least 100 Russian troops, according to Kiev.

Mr. Zelenski has said that one of the reasons for the incursion is the protection of the neighboring regions of Ukraine. "The more the Russian military presence in the border regions is destroyed, the closer real peace and security will be for our state. The Russian state must be responsible for what it has done," he said on Tuesday.

Russia has faced previous attacks on its territory during the war, but the Kursk incursion is significantly larger, faster and involves combat-experienced Ukrainian army brigades that are staying inside Russia for a longer time. long. About 10,000 Ukrainian troops are involved in the operation, according to Western military analysts.

The incursion also marks the first time foreign troops have invaded and held Russian territory since World War II, when Nazi Germany occupied large parts of Russia.

Although Russian military bloggers reported that Russian reservists sent to the Kursk region had slowed the Ukrainian advance, questions continue to be raised about whether the incursion could force Moscow to move troops from positions in eastern Ukraine to those in Kursk. The Russian military has made slow but steady advances in eastern Ukraine this year.

As Kiev trumpeted its gains in Kursk on Thursday, officials in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, which had a population of about 60,000 before the war, warned civilians to evacuate before Russian troops rapidly approached to within a distance of about 10 kilometers from the city. If Russian troops take Pokrovsky, where they have been trying to break Ukrainian defenses for weeks, they would advance further toward their goal of taking control of the entire Ukrainian region of Donetsk./ Voa