Russia prioritises its offensive in Donetsk Oblast over defence near Kursk – ISW

Experts from the Institute for the Study of War have noted that the Russians continue to maintain a relatively high pace of offensive in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, despite the operation of Ukraine's defence forces in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, and prioritise their offensive operations in Ukraine’s east overall.

Source: ISW

Quote: "Russian forces are maintaining their relatively high offensive tempo in Donetsk Oblast, demonstrating that the Russian military command continues to prioritise advances in Ukraine’s east even as Ukraine is pressuring Russian forces within Kursk Oblast."

Details: As it was reported, Russian troops continued to pursue their tactics, aiming to encircle Ukrainian forces to the southeast of the town of Pokrovsk.

Quote: "Geolocated footage published on 14 and 15 August indicates that Russian forces recently advanced east of Pokrovsk within Hrodivka and southeast of Pokrovsk within Mykolaivka, Zhelanne and Orlivka, and ISW assesses that Russian forces likely seized Orlivka and Zhelanne."

More details: It was also reported that Russian troops had continued mechanised assaults near Donetsk over the past few weeks.

Captain Dmytro Lykhovii, spokesman for the Tavriia Operational Strategic Group, said on 15 August that there had been no significant changes in the Russian troop grouping in Ukraine’s south and that Russian forces were not scaling back their offensive operations.

The experts added that Russia had begun to move some units out of Ukraine in response to the situation in Kursk Oblast but the types of units and where they are being moved from are strong indicators that the Russian military command is prioritising offensive operations in Ukraine’s east.

Quote: "ISW continues to assess that the Russian military command is pulling select elements of Russian irregular units from Donetsk Oblast to address the Ukrainian incursion in Kursk Oblast but will likely be extremely averse to pulling Russian military units engaged in combat from priority sectors in Donetsk Oblast out of concerns about slowing the tempo of Russian operations in these areas."

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