"We will meet the most resistance in Kursk." The Kursk offensive through the eyes of three Ukrainian servicemen

Two weeks have passed since the Kursk offensive by Ukrainian defence forces into Russia began. As of 20 August, the Ukrainian military has gained control of more than 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory and 93 settlements.

The ultimate aim of the operation and the details of its implementation are being kept under wraps. Restricted official information comes only from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, who, according to Ukrainska Pravda's sources, is the main architect of the sudden offensive. 

Servicemen from the core units involved in the offensive – 80, 82, 61, 22, 95, 5, and others – are cautious about talking to journalists and, despite the scorching heat, cover their faces with neck gaiters when being filmed. There are two reasons for such behaviour: fear for their lives while working within Russian territory and not knowing how the operation will end.

During the first week of the offensive, when little information was available to the general public, Ukrainska Pravda was collecting information about the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk Oblast piece by piece. 

Ukrainska Pravda journalists have reported on how the beginning of the operation and what its purpose might be, shown how the state border in Sumy Oblast [in Ukraine’s northeast] and the captured Russian border now look, and explained the rules that Ukraine must follow during hostilities on Russian territory.

This article is based on conversations with three participants in the operation. They revealed how Ukraine's border in Sumy Oblast was defended before the start of the operation; what their time in the Russian city of Sudzha was like during the first few days of the offensive; and the dangers of performing missions in Russia.

The stories they tell also raise several questions, including how Russian forces were able to withdraw so quickly and easily from the border in Kursk Oblast, and what the Ukrainian army might face at the outskirts of Kursk itself.

This article follows conversations with military personnel, style preserved. Personal names and those of units, specific tasks, and the names of settlements in Russia have been obscured at the request of the heroes and for security reasons.

Valerii: the Russian forces expected our offensive, but they did not expect it to be on such a scale

Valerii is a serviceman of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. He is 27 years old. For more than two years before the Kursk operation began, he had been operating drones to monitor the situation along a section of Ukraine’s border, in Sumy Oblast. 

The situation on the Sumy border was relatively calm before the operation. 

Yunakivka [a village 7 km from the border – ed.] was a regular settlement, with several shops and even a bakery. The Russians conducted attacks from time to time – MLRS, mortars, guided aerial bombs (GAB) – but there was often silence. A week of GABs, a week of silence. There was even electricity in the village where our position was located. 

There was no land warfare as such, only Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups. The [Ukrainian] military said that it reminded them of the Anti-Terrorist Operation – Joint Forces Operation zone. FPVs or large reconnaissance drones were operating from time to time: Orlan, Zala, Superkam. Russia was constantly exploring our territory, with drones flying right over Sumy.

We did not control the Yunakivka-Sudzha checkpoint. The fact is that the border is wavy, there is no hidden access to it, fields everywhere. There are places where we are in a pit and the Russians are in elevated positions – it makes no sense to stay there just for the sake of it [the first positions of the Ukrainian army in some places were 3-7 km from the state border inland to the oblast – ed.].

The entire operation [the offensive in Kursk Oblast – ed.] was highly confidential. 

We heard chatter among our colleagues that something was about to happen, and that Ukrainian equipment was passing by. However, we found out about the operation the day it began, at 5:00 in the morning on 6 August. We had just switched from a night copter [a type of drone – ed.] to a daytime one and saw how the first battalions were coming in to tear down the Russian "dragon's teeth," in a live broadcast [pyramidal anti-tank obstacles of reinforced concrete first used during the Second World War to impede the movement of tanks and mechanised infantry – ed.]. 

Our reaction was like this: "What's going on?"

From the copter, we saw two battalions [of Ukraine's Defence Forces] clearing a road across a field. They tore up the "teeth" and threw in a UR-83P Zmei Gorynich [a Soviet demining system] to clear the mines, prepared the road, and at 07:00 the first armoured vehicles started moving.

I guess the Russians were expecting our offensive, but did not expect it to be on such a scale. They left their front positions at the line of contact, but stayed in most of the other positions until the end. I remember that our tank fired on one of their dugouts, and a guy without armour came out and calmly moved to another dugout! Back then, we wondered what drugs they were on.

The Russians' engineering structures were very sturdy. The guys who went there in armoured vehicles said that they had actually built underground cities with holes and passages.

There was an intense rush of our [Ukrainian] equipment around the first four days of the operation. Our military was coming in, making roads, and there was a constant rush. We were watching the movement of our units, looking for Russian positions to throw them out.

Now we are in more of a waiting phase – what will happen after the Russians reinforce their forces? Sometimes I think we are moving too fast. I don't even understand how. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they have a lot of conscripts in their positions.

What is interesting is the fact that the Russians have started to launch more and more GABs on their villages, whereas at the beginning of the operation they did not do so. I understand that this is a response to the fact that they cannot do anything about the advance of Ukrainian troops.

How do I feel about the operation? Two weeks have passed, and I think that now movement should stop somewhere.

Everyone is cheering now: "Great!" and "Our guys have broken through!" But perhaps not everyone understands what the consequences for Sumy and the border could be. The Russians could start obliterating everything – they will simply use GABs around the five-kilometre border zone. 

We should not celebrate now, but get more involved in helping – electronic warfare, FPV, and Mavic drones. We must do everything to ensure that this offensive achieves its goal to prevent what happened last year in Belgorod Oblast: The Russian Volunteer Corps entered through Velyka Pysarivka, everything was fine, and then the Russians levelled the checkpoint and Velyka Pysarivka itself.

 Shen: When you're in the thick of things, you can achieve the impossible

Shen is a 33-year-old soldier from one of the Air Assault Forces brigades who was clearing settlements in Russia during the Kursk operation. He sustained a shrapnel wound during an assault on a building where Russian forces were hiding and is currently undergoing treatment. 

We started to suspect that there would be an offensive in Kursk Oblast about a year before it started. We knew that a plan with the code name Cursed Lands was in the works. Remember when reports that [Ukrainian forces] were in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast appeared in the news? The goal of that operation was to open a path for our forces later on. Everything kept getting delayed because of a lack of personnel and equipment.

We trained on training grounds ahead of the operation, practising different manoeuvres and things like clearing buildings. We worked through what we might expect during the offensive: ambushes, reconnaissance by combat, and what to do if we encounter enemy forces but need to continue to clear the roads.

Still, we had very little information about the operation itself. The less military personnel know, the easier it is for them to get their job done. I’m really glad that we’ve managed to keep our plans under wraps this time.

We got to Sumy Oblast in early August and started to reconnoitre the area. We travelled across the region and ensured we had good lines of communication with local brigades and border guards.

Then at some point, maybe two or three hours ahead of the operation beginning, our commanders told us: "You’re about to head into Russia." Our unit followed assault units, our task was to dig in at a particular location. We have now completed it and are continuing to move forward alongside another Air Assault Forces brigade.

I remember entering Sudzha on the afternoon of 10 August. To be honest, I imagined that things there would be much bleaker, but no, Sudzha was like a European city! Although now it’s looking much less polished… because of our raids. There is civilisation in Sudzha, proper roads – maybe because it’s in the border region. Its inhabitants are wealthy: the houses look expensive and have expensive decor, people have expensive cars.

There was hardly anyone there when we entered Sudzha. There was some fighting, some of our equipment got blown up, and we killed a few Russian soldiers.

I was tasked with mop-up: I had to check every building, even though they were all empty. Now that we’re advancing deeper [into Russia], we’re seeing more people. How do they react when they see us? Like they would to any soldier. Armed persons rarely inspire people’s trust. But I haven’t seen much resistance either. What I saw was an entirely peaceful civilian population.

The first four Russians we took prisoner were young contract soldiers, border guards from Bryansk and Novgorod. In contrast, in Klishchiivka [a village near Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast] we captured soldiers from Moscow and St Petersburg.

Early in the operation, we often encountered Russian border guards, even some of major rank, they surrendered en masse. On the way to Kursk, however, we were met by the regular Russian army. They would barricade themselves inside buildings and fire back at us. We would get our artillery involved, shell the buildings, and only then start the mop-up. We took Russian soldiers prisoner whenever we could to find out additional information.

About 80–90% of the Russian soldiers surrendered. I thought they were trying to achieve something by that, maybe to lure us further and then encircle us. Why didn’t they ensure their border region was protected?

Now they’re reinforcing their defences in the city of Kursk, that’s where we’ll see a lot of resistance. We’ve got fun times ahead of us.

I was injured on 16 August when we were mopping up the villages, on the way to Kursk. There was this one hill, and there was a house on that hill, with Russian soldiers inside. We had to get close to it, see what was what, and decide what to do next. We decided to deploy artillery to intimidate them!

That was when they deployed an 82-mm calibre mortar against us. A fragment of a mortar bomb ricocheted off a tree and injured my leg. If not for that tree, I would’ve lost my leg.

I thought: "What the fuck, again?!" This was my third injury since the beginning of this war. I thought I’d have to leave the guys and miss out on the action. When you’re in the thick of things, you can achieve the impossible, but when you’re out of action, that’s it, communication breaks down. It’s one thing when someone you know is covering your back, and it’s something entirely different when it’s someone you don’t know that well. This changes with time, but we’re short on time.

Did I feel like an occupier when I was in Sudzha? Some of the guys would talk about it, but I never felt that way.

I felt like someone prepared to sacrifice something for the sake of peace in their own land. It’s like chess: I move my pieces to my opponent’s side of the board to gain the advantage. I think we’re working towards an exchange, but we have to gain a good foothold before we can do so.

Sanchez: Finally an operation that makes sense!

Sanchez, 25, is a scout in an Air Assault Forces brigade. He took part in mop-up operations in Russian villages during the Kursk offensive and continues to carry out combat missions in Russia.

I was on family leave until 6 August, changing my kid’s nappies, and then boom! I was deployed to Sumy Oblast. By the time I got there, the operation was already underway. I wasn’t afraid… In fact, I was a fan of it. Finally, an operation that made sense!

When we were on the defensive, my tasks mostly revolved around laying mines and sometimes helping soldiers get to their positions. Here, on the other hand, I’m involved in ambushes and mop-up operations! So exciting. Though it’s not for everyone, of course…

People in Russia have to realise what it’s like when a war is fought in their country. Although this is very different from what they’re doing in Ukraine. Look at Sudzha – the town is mostly intact. It’s not like Bakhmut, Marinka or Avdiivka. Yes, some of the buildings have been damaged and destroyed, that can’t be avoided, but the town has not been obliterated. We’re not animals.

I was assigned my first mission on 16 August. We had to mop up one of the [Russian] villages and then get our guys there. It was far, far past Sudzha.

As soon as we got there, we heard the voices of two [Russian] soldiers. They were on their way back from their positions. We were quietly lying in ambush, and then we yelled: "Put your weapons on the ground!" One of them seemed to want to put his gun down, but the other one started to switch the safety catch off, so we had to kill them. They were partially in military uniform and partially in plain clothes: trousers from their military uniforms, but civilian jackets – it’s starting to get colder here.

How often do we run into Russian soldiers just like that, on the street? It depends on what we’re trying to do. That time we were behind their positions, where they didn’t expect us to be. During the same operation, we found a house that had been abandoned by soldiers from the Chechen Akhmat Battalion. We made sure that the entire street was clear, got our guys there safely, and went back home.

I found it easier to carry out missions before I got married and had a kid. It used to be easy for me to say yes to going somewhere no one else wanted to go, even though my rank meant that I could always say no.

How would I describe everything that’s happening in Kursk Oblast now? I’d like to say it’s revenge. But it doesn’t look like [what Russia has done in Ukraine]. We’re not razing their homes to the ground. We’re not killing civilians. I saw our forces distribute water and food to civilians in Sudzha.

We’re taking this whole operation calmly. Apart from the fact that we’re losing personnel, there are only advantages to be gained. But the Russians are also taking losses, they’re transferring reserves to the region. Now they not only have to think about how to advance in the east of Ukraine, but how to defend Kursk Oblast. 

I like history and know that, in the past, both the Kursk and Belgorod regions were part of Ukraine. But that was a long time ago, even if some locals still speak Ukrainian. Whenever I go there I feel like I’m going to a different country, a country that’s not my own. When I see the sign that reads "Ukraine" on my way back, I always feel relieved.

Bringing the war there was the right thing to do. An offensive on Russian territory is a form of defence for us.

I’ll also say this: people have to know that this is not easy. The hype around it, the memes and the jokes, is inappropriate. This operation has cost us a lot. But if we’re still doing it, it’s useful to us.

Olha Kyrylenko, Ukrainska Pravda

Translated by Violetta Yurkiv and Olya Loza

Edited by Rory Fleming-Stewart