Ukraine’s advance into Russia’s Kursk Region appears to have weakened the front in the Donetsk People’s Republic, where Russian forces have advanced on the key junction of Pokrovsk, Politico has reported.
Kiev sent several thousand troops across the Russian border last week, intending to force Moscow to pull reserves from elsewhere. Instead, Russia has continued to hammer Ukrainian positions in Donbass.
“I would say things have become worse in our part of the front,” Ivan Sekach, spokesman for Ukraine’s 110th Mechanized Brigade, told Politico. “We have been getting even less ammo than before and Russians are pushing.”
The 110th is currently deployed on the Pokrovsk portion of the front, where Russian forces have made significant gains in the past 24 hours. The Ukrainian military would not confirm any details to Politico, saying only that it was reinforcing the area.
Pokrovsk is the key road and rail hub for supplying Ukrainian forces in Donbass. By taking the town, Russian forces would turn the flank of the Ukrainians still holding on to Chasov Yar, Konstantinovka, and Toretsk.
Ukrainian soldiers and officials have told Western media that the incursion in Kursk was intended to seize some territory that could be used as a bargaining chip in talks with Russia, as well as forcing Moscow to divert troops from Donbass.
Instead, it was Kiev that stripped its front line of men and equipment for the Kursk adventure. Meanwhile, Moscow has ruled out any talks with “terrorists.”
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, over the past 24 hours alone, the Ukrainian forces in Kursk Region have sustained up to 340 casualties and lost 19 armored vehicles, including five US-made Bradley IFVs.
Moscow has estimated Kiev’s total losses in Kursk operations at over 2,500 troops, 37 tanks, 32 armored personnel carriers, 23 infantry fighting vehicles, 206 armored combat vehicles, 96 cars, four air-defense systems, three multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) launchers, and 20 field guns.