US: Sees units returning • Paasikivi: “Must stop them and collect own units”
The Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region of Kursk continues. At the same time, information comes from the United States that Russia has moved troops from parts of Ukraine towards the region.
– I cannot say with certainty how many there are, or how many will be moved or their purpose. But we are starting to see Russian units returning to the Kursk region, said US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
Paasikivi: It is reasonable that it is a unit from southern Ukraine
Exactly which movements are involved is unclear, but according to Joakim Paasikivi, a military expert, it could be Russian troops who are in southern Ukraine.
– What seems to be reasonable and can be seen in social media is that it is Russian units that are being moved from Crimea, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya, says Joakim Paasikivi.
Paasikivi believes that Russia seems to be relocating from these regions because there is less fighting intensity there.
– It is a consequence of the fact that they do not have large reserves elsewhere. There are no Russian aces up their sleeves and they don’t want to deploy conscripts on a large scale, says Paasikivi.
Ukraine continues forward
There is also information that Russia has started digging defenses and building tank barriers some distance from the Ukrainian units in Kursk.
– From the Russian side, they seem to expect that they are not ready, that they have to stop them and gather their own units, says Paasikivi.
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyy stated in a conversation with President Zelenskyy on Friday that progress is being made in the region. This week, Syrskyj announced that a military office had been established to ensure order and meet the needs of the local population.
The state-owned Ukrainian postal company, Ukrposhta, also states that it is ready to open a post office in the Russian city of Sudzha in Kursk.
– You are de facto an occupying power, then you have certain obligations. That the civilian population has access to normal services and can take part in community services. Russia has not focused on that in the Ukrainian occupied areas, says Paasikivi.
It is unclear what the Russian tactics might look like
The Russian tactic in the war has mainly been to push everything away in front, Paasikivi believes. A tactic that it is unclear whether Russia intends to use if they are to fight back in Kursk.
– How should they behave tactically? The very slow successes that the Russian side has had are precisely because you push away all the towns and then you take ruins, says Paasikivi.
If Russia could act in a similar way inside Russia, Joakim Paasikivi believes it would have been able to “raise some misgivings” in Russia.