Five months after their shock offensive into Russia, Ukrainian troops are bloodied and demoralised by the rising risk of defeat inജ Kursk, a region some want to hold at all costs while others question the value of having gone in at all.
Battles are so i🐎ntense that some Ukrainian commanders can't evacuate the dead. Co🌜mmunication lags and poorly timed tactics have cost lives, and troops have little way to counterattack, seven front-line soldiers and commanders told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity so they could discuss sensitive operations.
Since being caught unaware by the lightning Ukrainian incursion, Russia has amassed more than 50,000 troops in the region, including some from its ally North Korea. Precise numbers𓆉 are hard to obtain, but Moscow's counterattack has killed and wounded thousands and the overstretched Ukrainians have lost more then 40% of the 984 square kilometers (380 square miles) of Kursk they seized in August.
Its full-scale invasion three years ago left Russia holding a fifth of Ukraine, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hinted that he hopes controlling Kursk will help force Moscow to negotiate an end to the war. But five 🔜Ukrainian and Western officials in Kyiv who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss sensitive military matters sai♕d they fear gambling on Kursk will weaken the whole 1000-kilometer (621-mile) front line, and Ukraine is losing precious ground in the east.
“We have, as they say, hit a hornet's nest. We have stirred up another hot spot,” said Stepan Lutsiv, a mౠajor in the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade.
The border raid that became an occupation
Army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has said that Ukraine launched the operation because officials t♎hought Russia was about to launch a new attack on northeast Ukraine.
It began on Aug. 5 with an order to leave Ukraine's Sumy region for what they thought would be a nine-day raid to stun the ene♛my. It became an occupation that Ukrainians welcomed as their smaller country gained leverage and embarrassed Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Gathering his men, one company commander told them: “We're making history; the wholꩲe world will know about us because this hasn't been done since World War II. Privꩲately, he was less certain.
🌠“It seemed crazy,” he said. “I didn't understand why.”
Shocked by success achieved largely because the Russians wer🅠e caught by surprise, the Ukrainians were ordered to advance beyond the original mission to the town of Korenevo, 25 kilometers (16 miles) into Russia. That was one of the first places where Russian troops counterattacked.
By early November the Ru🍨ssians began regaining territory rapidly. Once in awe of what they accomplished, troops' opinions are shifting ꧒as they come to terms with losses. The company commander said half of his troops are dead or wounded.
Some front-lin🧔e commanders said conditions are tough, morale is low and troops are questioning command decisions, even the very pu▨rpose of occupying Kursk.
Another commander said that some ord🎃ers his men have received don't reflect reality because of delays in communication. Delays occur especially when terri♔tory is lost to Russian troops, he said.
“They don't understand where our side is, where the enemy is, what's under our control, and what isn't,” he said. “They don't understand the operational situation, we so act at 🦹our own discretion."
One platoon commander said higheꦕr ups have repeatedly turned down his requests to change his unit's defensive position because he knows his men can't hold the line.
“Those people who stand until the end are ending up MIA,” he said. He said he also knows of at least 20 Ukrainian soldiersꦅ whose bodies had been abandಞoned over the last four months because the battles were too intense to evacuate them without more casualties.
No option to retreat as Russia doubles down
Ukrainian soldiers said they were not prepar🧸ed for the aggressive Russian response in Kursk, and cannot counterattack or pull back♕.
“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,” said one drone unit commander.
The AP requested comment from Ukraine's General Staff but did not receive a re🐽spoꦯnse before publication.
American longer-range weapons have slowed the Russian advance and North Korean soldiers who joined the fighting last month are easy targets for drone🦩s and artillery because they lack combat discipline and often move in large groups in the open, Ukrainian troops said.
On Monday, Zelenskyy said 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed 𓆏and wounded. But they appear to be learning from their mis🔯takes, soldiers added, by becoming more adept at camouflaging near forested lines.
One clash took place las🌼t week near Vorontsovo tract, a forested area between the settlements of Kremenne and Vorontsovo.
Until last week, the area was under Ukrai❀ne's control. This week part of it has been lost to Russian forces and Ukrainian troops fear they will reach a cr🦄ucial logistics route.
Eyeing frontline losses in the eastern region known as the Donbas — where Russia is closing on a crucial supply hub — some soldiers are more vocal about whether Kursk has🎃 been worth it.
“All the military can think abou🃏t now is that Donbas has simply been sold," the platoon commander said. “A𒉰t what price?”.
