Military expert outlines operational and strategic plan for Kursk operation

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"If, two weeks before the offensive, the head of Ukraine's Defence Intelligence noted the redeployment of occupying personnel and heavy armored vehicles in the northern direction, suggesting the potential formation of an invasion force, then it indicates that the Ukrainian General Staff and Defence Intelligence had anticipated the enemy's plans. These plans involved focusing on the Sumy direction and creating a strike group to replicate the Kharkiv scenario—namely, an invasion of the Sumy region to stretch the front line and divert the operational reserves of the Ukrainian Armed Forces," he said.

Sniehyriov suggested that, having the relevant intelligence, the Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff decided to launch a preemptive strike in order to prevent the rapid deployment of the contingent and the invasion by Russian forces.

“The operational success of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region became possible precisely because the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine received the necessary information and we were able to take them by surprise,” he added.

Russia was forced to redeploy operational reserves to the Kursk region not from the Kharkiv direction, but from the Donetsk direction, the military expert noted.

“We are talking about the redeployment of the 810th Marine Brigade and the 15th Brigade, which was part of the first army corps of the so-called DPR, from the Krasnohorivka area. The first assault unit of the former Wagner PMC under the Ratybor command and special forces units of the Akhmat regiment were also relocated. These are not Kadyrov's units, do not confuse them, 80% of them are representatives of Slavic nationalities. This is the most combat-ready unit. Currently, the Russians are trying to localize the operational breakthrough of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. They are talking about advancing deeper into Russian territory to a distance of 30-35 km, solely by redeploying units from the territory of the Russian Federation. If our Baltic friends report on the redeployment of units from the Kaliningrad region to the Kursk direction, the Russians are calculating the possible consequences of withdrawing operational reserves from the Donetsk direction,” he said.

Ukraine’s cross-border incursion in Russia’s Kursk region

On August 6, the authorities of Russia's Kursk region stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly tried to break through the Russian border, but were pushed back. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that "the Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group retreated to its territory.”

On August 7, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin convened the Russian military leadership to discuss the situation in the Kursk region, which he called a "large-scale provocation." At the time, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called on the international community to "strongly condemn the Kyiv regime's criminal attacks on Russian territory."

On August 10, President Zelenskyy called the operation in the Kursk region “pushing the war into the aggressor's territory.” At night of the same day, the authorities introduced a counterterrorism operation in the Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod regions of Russia.

On August 14, it became known that the Ukrainian military had formed a “sanitary (buffer) zone” for self-defense in the Kursk region of Russia. It is planned to open humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians, and if necessary, military commandant's offices will be established in the Russian region.

At a meeting with the president on August 15, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Ukraine had established the first military commandant's office in the Kursk region to provide humanitarian aid to local residents.

At the same time, Ukraine's Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, together with the military, is currently working on a possible route for a humanitarian corridor for civilians from Kursk to Sumy.

On August 15, The Independent reported that about 2,000 Russian servicemen were captured during an operation by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region.