Ukraine's bold bridge strikes isolate Russian forces in Kursk

Both Russian media and the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Gen. Mykola Oleschuk, confirmed on Sunday the destruction of the third road bridge over the Sejm River in the Kursk region. The bridge, located near the town of Glushkovo, was previously shelled by HIMARS missiles and collapsed after being hit by a bomb.

The Glushkovo region forms the western flank of the "Kursk operation," which is the ongoing attack by Ukrainian forces on Russian territory that began on August 6. Recent reports indicate that Ukraine is gradually advancing. "The situation is dangerous and requires the evacuation of Rylsk and Lgov before it's too late. If they want to retreat, they will have to swim", wrote Officer Volodymyr Romanov on Telegram (statement discussed by the Ukrainian agency Unian) about the situation of the Russian troops. The destruction of the bridges is a blow to the supply lines of Russian forces located between the river and the Ukrainian border, according to military reports.

Russians have no idea how to respond. With the bridges destroyed, supplies and reinforcements will be delayed. In the meantime, Ukrainian units are demolishing resistance points and conducting raids in the region, comments Gen. Waldemar Skrzypczak, former commander of the Land Forces, in his analysis for WP on the events in the war in Ukraine.

The Kursk operation is of great significance. It creates confusion in the Russian staff. They have to choose where to direct their military effort: whether to continue attacking the Donbas with momentum or to control the situation on their territory, continues Skrzypczak.

I believe that this effect was what the Ukrainian commanders intended to achieve, so that in the face of the attack, part of the Russian forces would be redirected to aid Kursk, he adds.

According to the WP interlocutor, the reaction of the Russians and the movement of their units gives the Ukrainians the opportunity to identify and attack other weak points on the frontline. I sense that Ukrainians are planning another move on a different front that will surprise many commentators, adds Gen. Skrzypczak.

In recent days, the Ukrainians have published reports of successfully attacking Russian convoys arriving to support the conflict areas. Media have also published interviews with Russian prisoners. Many of them are conscripts, who say they had no chance against the "professionals fighting at the front for two years".

"Almost two weeks after the unexpected attack on Russian territory, Ukraine is trying to balance between capturing territory in the Kursk region and losing it on the central eastern front in Donbas," comment the authors of the Ukrainian agency Unian.

Military analysts are providing more explanations for the goals of the Ukrainian operation. Retired Australian commander Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan previously told WP that Ukrainians not only surprised them but caused a shock. So much so that the Russians reacted very slowly. He now points out that the political aim of the Kursk operation is to pierce through Russia's bluff about escalating the war.

Ukraine has shown once again that the various red lines predicted by the Russian president are aimed at strengthening the West's political hesitation in making decisions about the war and shaping decisions regarding arms supplies, Ryan wrote in his latest analysis.

Let's recall that in the first year of the attack on Ukraine, Putin threatened the West with red lines, the crossing of which "would lead to consequences that you have never faced in history."

According to Gen. Ryan, the operation in the Kursk region draws the Russians into an unexpected fight on their own territory. Additionally, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky openly mocks Putin and challenges him, appropriating Russian terminology and talking "about creating a buffer zone."

These are Putin's words, which justified the invasion of the Kharkiv region earlier this year. Zelensky declared that Ukraine intends to keep at least part of the territory it has occupied. Kursk is to be an ongoing military and political problem for Russia.