Ukraine amasses maximum troops to hold line in Pokrovsk sector - Major Hetman

He said this on Espreso TV.

“Many people are even starting to blame our Armed Forces, saying that it was not necessary to carry out such an operation in the Kursk region, it was necessary to send these troops to the Pokrovsk direction to stop the enemy, which is not entirely correct from a military point of view, or rather, completely wrong. The point is that those troops in the Pokrovsk sector would have made little difference, as the enemy significantly outnumbered us there. What does it mean to add people? It's like putting people not even 10 meters apart, but half a meter. This is what it means to add. We have the maximum number of people there to hold the line,” he said.

The military explained what Russia's superiority means. 

“The enemy outnumbers us - this does not mean that if they attack along the front, for example, at a distance of 100 meters, then 100 people go at once - as usually 10 people go at a distance of 10 meters from each other. The advantage means that they have more artillery, so they can shoot more, they have more drones, so they can attack more, and they have more forces to renew those assault groups that are advancing. Let's say one group carries out an assault, and if it is unsuccessful, it withdraws in tatters, and a new group takes the place. The first one goes to the deep rear, resumes there, adds people and continues to attack again,” said Oleksiy Hetman.

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 Kursk region was destroyed.

Also on August 16, the Ukrainian military showed unique footage of the first hours of the Ukrainian Defense Forces' offensive in the Kursk region.