Battle of Kursk II - 14 August 2024 - Day 9
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that the United States did not participate in the planning and preparation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' sortie into the Kursk region. "I have nothing more to say. I will only say that we certainly were not involved in any way in the planning or preparation of this operation, but in general we <...>," she said at a regular briefing. She was also asked to clarify US President Joe Biden's August 13 remarks that the Ukrainian Armed Forces' attack on the Kursk region created a "real dilemma" for the Russian leadership, but Jean-Pierre refused. "I think it's perfectly clear. I don't think I need to explain what the president said," she replied.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) entered the territory of the Kursk region with a force of 12 thousand soldiers, among them there were many mercenaries, most of whom were destroyed. This was stated by the deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commander of the special forces "Akhmat" Major General Apty Alaudinov.
OSINT Aggregator reported Ukrainian forces intensified their raids across the region. With no defined front line, mobile groups from the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to launch operations from their occupied positions. Yesterday, Ukrainian troops entered the settlement of Spalnoye in the south, while Russian forces engaged them near Kauchuk. In the Korenevsky direction, clashes were reported near Snagost, which Ukraine managed to capture. Ukrainian units were also spotted in the vicinity of Olgovka.
Skirmishes continue on the outskirts of Sudzha, which has been confirmed by multiple sources and geolocated footage to be under Ukrainian control, with Russian forces being pushed further east. In Sudzha, Ukrainian forces have taken control of high-rise buildings, establishing firing and sniper positions on rooftops.
Ukrainian forces have successfully captured the village of Snagost. In the Korenovsky direction, they are advancing on the settlements of Kauchuk and Alekseevsky, where Russian forces are mounting a defense. Ukrainian troops have been observed approximately 1 km from Kauchuk. In the village of Plekhovo, south of Sudzha, Ukrainian armored vehicles have been spotted for the second consecutive day, suggesting that Russian forces have lost control over the area.
According to preliminary information, Ukraine carried out an unsuccessful raid on the settlement of Giri. Ukrainian forces are attempting to advance northward toward Kurchatov from multiple directions. More advance east, west and south were noted today. The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to hold reserves near the settlements of Troebornoye and Tetkino, poised to deploy them when strategically advantageous.
Military Informant reported Ukrainian soldiers near the House of Culture in the village of Vnezapnoye , Korenevsky district, Kursk region at coordinates: 51.242304, 34.879202. It is not clear when the footage was filmed, but nothing was previously known about the enemy's presence in this area. If the video is relevant, it confirms the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces over this section of the 38K-006 Korenevo-Troitskoye highway , from where another offensive may develop towards Korenevo , the plans for which the Ukrainian army has not abandoned. Most likely, the enemy soldiers entered through the village of Gordeyevka , which borders the Sumy region , and it is also under their control. Thus, the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to expand the front line in the Kursk region.
Russian troops carried out another series of strikes on targets in the territory controlled by the Kiev regime in the Zhytomyr , Vinnytsia , Mykolaiv , Kyiv and other regions. In the evening, an explosion thundered in the port of Odessa. Ukrainian formations carried out one of the most massive launches of drones on Russian territory since the beginning of the SVO. The targets were the Baltimore and Borisoglebsk military airfields in the Voronezh region , as well as Savasleyka in the Nizhny Novgorod region .
Russian aviation continues to target Ukrainian equipment, personnel, and rear positions. Due to the incursion into Kursk Oblast, the number of Russian Aerospace Forces airstrikes on the border area of Sumy Oblast has increased several times . Ukrainian aviation remains active as well, dropping munitions while maintaining a cautious distance. Reports indicate that Ukrainian forces deployed JDAM-ER guided air bombs to strike a Russian positions in one of the targeted settlements. Overnight, Russian air defenses successfully intercepted and neutralized four missiles targeting the Kursk region, as reported by the regional governor.
On the night of August 14, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber in the Kursk region of Russia. This was announced by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "During the execution of a combat mission, a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber was destroyed by the forces and means of the anti-aircraft missile forces of the Air Force of Ukraine. Work to eliminate the occupiers, their equipment and weapons continues unceasingly," the General Staff clarifies.
The Russian Kursk regional operational headquarters announced that an additional 2,000 people were evacuated from the border area in the last 24 hours. A total of 77 temporary accommodation centers have been established across the Kursk region to support those displaced by the conflict.
The 810th Separate Guards Marine Brigade from Sevastopol has been battling units of the 82nd Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Sudzha and across the region. The evacuation of civilians has begun in the Bolshesoldatsky district. In an effort to curb information leaks, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has implemented movement restrictions for all civilians within a 20-kilometer zone in the Sumy region.
Some of the Russian troops have been relocated from Ukraine to Russia’s Kursk Oblast in order for Russia to fight off Ukraine’s surprise offensive. That’s according to POLITICO. “Russia has relocated some of its units from both Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine’s south,” Dmytro Lykhoviy, a Ukrainian army spokesman said in a comment to the media. And yet, he added that Russians had enough time to accumulate a rather large number of personnel, in particular in the Zaporizhzhia region, while the number of units redeployed remains relatively small. “We must still understand whether it is a smokescreen activity,” Lykhoviy suggested. Also, Russia continues its offensive on Pokrovsk and the Donetsk region in general.
It will take "weeks" for the Russian authorities to gather the necessary number of troops to bypass the flanks and encircle the Ukrainian units in the Kursk region. Austrian military analyst Tom Cooper expressed this opinion in an interview with Suspilnya . "When you ask if there is a danger that the Russians will outflank Ukrainian forces in the Kursk direction, no. There is not. It will take weeks for the Russians to gather enough forces to do this. Any concentration of Russian troops will be detected by Ukrainian UAVs and then hit weapons of the HIMARS type and everything that is available (in the Armed Forces - ed.) - he said.
Cooper emphasized that it "would be a big mistake" for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation if they allowed the Russians to gather the necessary number of troops for the encirclement and noted that the assumptions about the so-called strength of the Russian army are somewhat exaggerated. "We think of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as Soviet. As a huge force with thousands of tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, endless reserves of artillery or ammunition, equipment and other things. In fact, the Russian Army in 2024 will no longer have so many (weapons — ed. .).They have an infantry that moves very slowly, the command methodically does nothing without an order "from above", from the direct superiors and all the way to Moscow, which does nothing without extremely slow and long preparation," said the military analyst.
Russia posted online job vacancies for trench diggers in the Kursk region, as satellite imagery reveals a newly dug trench system in the area. A user on the Russian social media platform Vkontakte, in a group called Typical Lgov, shared an announcement: “Friends, they asked me to publish this announcement from Kurchatov,” referring to a town near the Kursk nuclear power plant. The post added, “We need people to dig trenches in Lgov. They also have equipment but no drivers. Payment every week.”
In addition, a construction company from the distant region of Bashkortostan posted a job listing on Avito, stating that workers are needed to dig trenches in the Kursk region. The job offers a monthly salary between $1,600 to $4,000, along with three meals a day, necessary tools, work clothes, and transportation to the job site at the company’s expense.
Russian Railways faced a transport collapse in regions bordering Ukraine and Belarus. A telegram was sent from the central office of Russian Railways to the Belarusian Railways about the need to stop sending freight trains from all stations of the Belarusian Railways to stations of the Oryol-Kursk branch of the Moscow Railway (MRZhD RR) from 12.08.2024. It is noteworthy that the received telegram with notification of the impossibility of receiving trains from the Belarusian Railways in the specified direction is no longer limited in validity, but has the mark "until cancellation". This circumstance terminates railway communication from Belarus to stations in the specified region of Russia for an unknown (unlimited) period.
It should be noted that such a decision was made by Russian Railways against the backdrop of military events (the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and the establishment of their control on Russian territories) occurring in the Kursk region, as well as statements by the Russian authorities about the “successes” achieved. There is a large accumulation of "abandoned" trains (code 12 - no locomotive) at stations in the Smolensk region of the Moscow Railway. This circumstance also affects the rhythm of sending freight trains from the Belarusian Railway in the direction of the Moscow Railway and leads to disruption of the schedule.
The lack of traction in the situation described is caused by the Russian authorities conducting a large-scale operational transfer of troops in the direction of the Kursk region and the redeployment of a significant part of the Moscow Railway's fleet of freight locomotives to carry out military transportation from the central part of Russia. At the same time, some sources report that the concentration of armed forces is being carried out from virtually all regions, even from fairly remote ones or those with complicated logistics.
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