Ukraine’s Kursk operation prevented potential Russian attack on Kyiv - Defense Express

He stated this on Espreso TV.

“The occupying Russian army indeed had plans to launch another offensive on the Sumy region. It was only a matter of time. Moreover, the Russians were not just preparing to attack us in the Sumy region and stretch our forces; it threatened to collapse the entire front. Regarding the informational and emotional aspects of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' operations in the Kursk region, we have been following a middle scenario for the second year in a row. On the one hand, we are not doing as well as we would like, and on the other hand, we are performing better than we could have. Therefore, it would be ideal if we had enough forces and resources for massive operations in the Kursk region and large-scale control operations in the east. However, we have been forced to operate with limited forces in the Kursk region,” Kyrychevskyi explained.

According to the expert, the Ukrainian Armed Forces' operation in the Kursk region has made it impossible for the Russian army to advance into the Sumy region.

"If our troops had not started operating in Russia’s Kursk region, we would now be discussing how far Russian tanks are from Kyiv. This was literally the price of the issue.

Our people seem to understand that they shouldn't read Russian media, but they do. Reading Russian media during the war is almost like eating scraps from the ground. What is my point? In the first week of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' operation in Kursk, there was no official qualification for these actions, and that's right. Our people went to read the 'good' Russian media and got the impression that there were no serious Russian groups and no fortifications in the Kursk region - only Russian 'boys in panties' standing with 'welcome' posters. That's why there were discussions about whether it was necessary to divert our forces and resources to this operation.

A 30,000-strong grouping of Russian troops could have advanced on Sumy. If it weren't for the preventive operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region, we would now be discussing Sumy as a zone of active combat operations, including the storming of Sumy and similar scenarios,” he added.

• On September 18, it was reported that Ukrainian soldiers had stopped the offensive of Russian troops in the Kursk region.