"Question to command: What is the strategic plan?" – Ukrainian officer on Kursk operation

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"The Kursk operation is another proof that there are no miracles in war, and even those operations of the last century, which we called, in particular, the ‘Miracle on the Vistula’, are the result of carefully calculated actions and, as Zaluzhnyi himself says, the result of mathematics. We could not expect some kind of super victory if we did not go for Moscow, and we do not have enough forces and means to reach and capture Moscow. Obviously, we now have the natural result that our best units are holding back a very heavy offensive of the enemy, who has concentrated just as many forces. Despite the fact that the main support is now going to the Kursk region to ensure our control over the captured territories, it still looks quite difficult," he said.

Volodymyr Omelyan doubts that the seized part of the Kursk region will become a significant lever in the return of Ukrainian territories temporarily occupied by Russia.  

"And we need to understand what the plan B is in this particular situation. Because what I hear from many military officers is that we may have some problems with Plan B. And I would not want it to happen that the best formations suffered significant losses or were incapacitated after a series of battles in the Kursk region. So again, the question is to the command, the question is what are the capabilities, what is the strategic plan of this operation. Because as of today, it is hard for me to believe that we can exchange 600, even a thousand square kilometers of Kursk region for more than 110 thousand square kilometers of Ukrainian territory that the Russians have captured in recent years," the politician believes.

In his opinion, the Kursk operation is a field for discussion.

"Secondly, when we talk about raising the patriotic spirit of Ukrainians as a result of this operation, it is true. But I am convinced that the patriotic spirit of Ukrainians would have risen no less if we had used Ukrainian missiles to destroy the Kremlin. And there would have been much fewer casualties among Ukrainians, and we must admit that there are some in Kursk. The fact that we were able to deal a painful blow to the Kremlin's ambitions and actually crossed the last red line by bringing the war to Russian territory, and we did not suffer any global consequences for this, there were no nuclear strikes of any kind, is a fact. But again, at what cost and what the consequences of this offer will be, there is a large field for discussion," Volodymyr Omelyan added.

• On October 17, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and now Ukraine's Ambassador to the UK, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, refused to give an assessment of the special operation in Russia's Kursk region.
• On October 21, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Chief of Staff Oleksandr Syrskyi and Chief of the General Staff Anatoliy Barhylevych, during which they discussed, among other things, the operation of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in Russia's Kursk region.
• On October 21, it was reported that the Russian army had captured Zhelanne Druhe and advanced near two settlements in Donetsk region and two in Kursk region.