15 October 2024

Assessing the Kursk Campaign

Mick Ryan

Two months ago, Ukraine launched one its most audacious campaigns of the war. While it initially appeared to be a small-scale incursion similar to previous Belgorod operations, it quickly became apparent that this was a significant conventional ground campaign that had experienced combat formations in the vanguard.

For the first couple of weeks at least, Ukrainian ground forces were able advance rapidly along several axes of advance inside Kursk. The Russians, caught off guard in Moscow, were slow to respond to the incursion, repeating a pattern from other events when they have been surprised.

However, by September, the Russian response to the Ukrainian incursion had begun to take shape. Forces from multiple brigades and divisions were deployed from Russia and from inside Ukraine to stem the Ukrainian progress, which throughout September the Russians largely achieved. In the second half of September, the Russians were able to mount a significant counterattack against the western part of the Ukrainian salient and smaller attacks against the Ukrainians in the southeastern part of the salient.

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