Ukraine’s army chief says Russia planned to launch a new attack from Kursk, but he got there first

Ukrainian soldiers in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Sudzha in the Kursk Region, Russia, on August 18, 2024.

Ukraine’s army chief said Russia had planned to launch a new cross-border attack from Kursk, but Kyiv got there first.

Ukraine caught Russia off guard by launching an incursion into Russia’s Kursk region on August 6, grabbing hundreds of miles of territory in just a matter of days.

Ukraine’s Kursk incursion “reduced the threat of an enemy offensive,” Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, told CNN. “We prevented them from acting.”

Syrskyi made the statement from an undisclosed location near the front lines of the fighting.

He said that in under a week, Ukrainian forces had captured about 386 square miles — almost the equivalent of what Russia has captured in Ukraine this year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month that one of the operation’s aims was to create a “buffer zone” to prevent further Russian attacks across the border.

Syrskyi told CNN that the operation aimed to stop Russia from using Kursk as a springboard for a new offensive, and to force it into redeploying its military from other areas.

According to Syrskyi, they have achieved these goals, forcing Russia to redeploy tens of thousands of soldiers — including airborne assault troops — to Kursk and stopping Russian advances in the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.

“Over the last six days, the enemy hasn’t advanced a single meter in the Pokrovsk direction,” he said, adding that Ukrainian forces have reduced Russia’s capacity to maneuver and send reinforcements.

“In other words, our strategy is working,” he told CNN.

Other goals being pursued, Syrskyi added, include preventing cross-border shelling of civilian objects, taking prisoners of war, and improving the morale of troops and the country.

While Syrskyi said the offensive in Kursk had achieved some of its goals, it’s unclear how long Ukraine can retain control of the territory it holds, and whether it can force Russia to redeploy enough of its troops away from the main 600-mile front line in eastern Ukraine.

In an interview with NBC News on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is planning to hold the Russian land indefinitely as part of its victory plan, which he said he will present to the country’s international allies this month.

According to a report by the Institute for the Study of War think tank on Thursday, Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine are likely to conclude earlier than its military anticipates due in part to operational challenges caused by Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk.