In contrast to other mainstream media stories on the Kursk region battlefield, Financial Times reports that Ukrainian troops that invaded Kursk have taken heavy losses in men and Western-provided vehicles. The attack that began last Tuesday, Aug. 6, involved units drawn from six Ukrainian frontline brigades, soldiers told the FT. They also claimed to have caught the Russians by surprise, but quickly came under fire from drones and FAB glide bombs.
Russian figures that more than 1,600 Ukrainians were killed are “impossible to verify” and “exaggerated,” asserts FT, which nevertheless reported, “many ambulances and armored medical evacuation vehicles rushed to and from the front line.”
FAB glide bombs also reportedly “wiped out some Ukrainian troops and valuable Western-provided equipment.” The group of fighters interviewed by the paper on Aug. 11 said their Stryker—a wheeled U.S.-made armored vehicle—was damaged and had to be towed back into Ukraine, where it would be cannibalized for parts.
According to the soldiers, the goal of the operation was to capture Russian territory as a bargaining chip and force Moscow to divert troops from the Donbass front. “We can fight here and take their territory. And then negotiations can start, and we will have some land of theirs to trade for our land,” said one soldier, identified as “Denys.”
Ukraine reportedly stripped its frontline of troops to stage the Kursk incursion. According to FT, the soldiers interviewed had fought in Kharkov and on the Donetsk front, at places such as Chasov Yar and a settlement called New York. “These cities are already lost. They are only ours on the map. The Russians have wiped them out,” Denys said.
