A stunning maneuver that caught the Kremlin off guard – world media on the raid in Kursk region

A stunning maneuver that caught the Kremlin off guard – world media on the raid in the Kursk region Vladislav Kravtsov

What Western media are writing about the events in Kursk Oblast/Collage 24 Channel

Events in Kursk Oblast continue to attract the attention of world media. Western analysts are stunned by the maneuver that was carried out by breaking through the border of the Russian region.

The media write that the raid in Kursk Oblast caught the Kremlin by surprise. In addition, they note the poor arrangement of the border with Ukraine by Russian troops.

What Western media and analysts write about the events in Kursk Oblast

CNN journalists claim that the alleged Ukrainian offensive on Russian territory, which began on August 6, “is penetrating deeper and causing significant damage to Moscow troops.”

The publication also estimates, based on images from open sources, that as a result of the border breach, Russian troops had dozens of burned-out trucks along with the bodies of soldiers on the side of the road in the village of Oktyabrskoye, about 8 kilometers east of the city of Rylsk.

CNN also recalled that the situation in the Kursk region prompted the Kremlin to declare a federal state of emergency.

According to the publication, US and Ukrainian officials hope that such an attack will distract Russian forces from attacks on other parts of the eastern front, as well as to inflict damage and demoralize Russian forces. American officials do not believe that “Ukraine intends to hold Russian territory for long.”

Associated Press journalists call the operation in the Kursk region “a surprise attack by the Ukrainian army on Russia” and “a stunning maneuver that caught the Kremlin forces by surprise.”

The strategic objective of Ukraine's largest cross-border incursion in nearly 900 days of war remains unclear, but it counters Russia's relentless efforts in recent months to breach Ukrainian defenses at points along the front line in eastern Ukraine, AP writes.

In addition, Angelica Evans, an analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, told a Voice of America journalist that analysts are monitoring and verifying a number of reports that the Ukrainians are allegedly attacking in two directions in the Kursk region – towards the settlements of Sudzha and Koreneva.

Russian military bloggers, she recalls, are trying to discredit the raid. However, high-level Russian officials have eventually held meetings about the events in the Kursk region, in particular with the acting governor, in an attempt to show that they are “working on this issue to curb the fear of the Russian people.”

Evans also noted that, according to unconfirmed information, Russian reserves are moving to Kursk, as well as frontline forces, border guards, FSB resources, as well as Wagner PMC veterans and Chechen forces.

“We have seen the Russian authorities talk a lot over the last year, especially after the Wagner armed uprising, about trying to strengthen the Russian border. This calls into question how these measures have been implemented and how much they have actually tried to do this,” the analyst added.

It is worth noting that so far neither the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine nor the official Ukrainian officials in Kyiv did not comment on our state's involvement in the events in Russia's Kursk region.