Russian General Lapin weakens border defense by dissolving regional council before AFU offensive – WSJ

The Wall Street Journal reports this, citing a Russian intelligence representative.

According to the publication, Lapin didn't directly open the gate for the Ukrainian advance in the Kursk region. Instead, he was grappling with a severe manpower shortage in the area. The WSJ points out that his blunder is symptomatic of senior leadership, which often remains out of touch with battlefield realities.

It's unclear whether the interdepartmental council, disbanded by General Lapin, could have bolstered security in the Kursk region. However, the WSJ notes that without such a centralized body, Russia's efforts to repel the Ukrainian army have been chaotic and ineffective.

Furthermore, the WSJ highlights that Lapin was aware of troop movements near the border, yet failed to reinforce defensive positions or lay mines, actions he had previously taken before Ukraine's counteroffensive in the summer of 2023.

When Ukrainian troops crossed the border into Russian territory, they encountered no resistance. Inside Russia, there were no territorial defense forces to slow them down. The first to engage were conscripts from the 488th Motorized Rifle Regiment and the 144th Motorized Rifle Brigade, who were ill-prepared for combat, the article states.

The WSJ also mentions that Lapin led Russian forces in the Kharkiv region in September 2022, during which the Ukrainian Armed Forces recaptured almost the entire region in just over a week.

About Alexander Lapin

Alexander Lapin has commanded the troops of the Central Military District since November 22, 2017. He was notably in charge during the brutal assaults on Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.

After Ukraine's successful offensive in the Kharkiv region and the subsequent liberation of Lyman in Donetsk, Lapin faced harsh criticism from Kadyrov, who called for his removal. Prigozhin publicly supported Kadyrov's stance.

Currently, Lapin heads the Leningrad Military District.

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.

On Friday, August 16, a bridge over the Seim River in the Glushkovsky district of the Kursk region was destroyed.

That same day, the Ukrainian military released rare footage showing the first hours of their offensive operation in the Kursk region.

O August 17, military journalist Andriy Tsaplienko reported that Ukrainian forces had entered the village of Korenevo in the Kursk region.