Russia is making progress • “Trying to kill as many of each other as possible”
Two months ago, Ukraine launched an offensive in Kursk, Russia.
On Tuesday, President Zelenskyi said that Ukrainian forces will continue to put the necessary pressure on Russia in the region, despite the fact that risks backlash against Ukraine.
However, the situation at the front is assessed by experts as still unchanged.
– It is a war of attrition where you simply try to kill as many of each other as possible, says military expert Joakim Paasikivi in Nyhetsmorgon.
Recently there were reports that Ukraine struck an oil depot on the Crimean peninsula and that the country continues to strike important targets such as industries, oil depots and ammunition depots in Russia.
In the Kursk region, the fighting also continues, after the offensive that Ukraine began exactly two months ago.
At the same time, Russia is making progress elsewhere and has, among other things, succeeded in retaking a number of towns and villages. The situation at the hundred-mile long front can be judged as largely unchanged.
– The situation is basically the same as it was. Russia is pressing very hard along the front and they are also shooting at Odessa and other cities, says Joakim Paasikivi.
– The Russians have recently also taken Vuhledar, a town of 14 thousand people, and continue to press for a breakthrough – but so far have not had it, he adds.
“The advance has stopped”
Ukraine – after taking the city of Sudzha – continues to hold the terrain in the Kursk region, and the rains that usually come in autumn, which make access difficult, have not yet arrived.
– The front situation is largely unchanged. It’s a war of attrition where you simply try to kill as many of each other as possible.
Despite the slow progress of the war, Joakim Paasikivi does not want to call the situation a stalemate.
– It can give the impression that nothing is happening. There is heavy fighting all the time, but the Ukrainian advance has stalled. There are a lot of what we call gray areas where it is difficult to determine who dominates the terrain. No major advances are visible for either side.
– When Russia takes a city like Vuhledar, it requires a lot of force. Now you need to reorganize and bring in new fresh units, something that is missing on both sides. This is why the war is going so slowly, explains the military expert.