Colonel Khodarenok: The Ukrainian Armed Forces are destroying bridges near Kursk, as they do not plan to attack
Military operations in the Kursk region are still in the spotlight both in Russia and in the world. On the night of August 19, the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck the third (and last) bridge over the Seim River, destroying three spans. What Kiev's actions mean and how the situation in the region can develop, the military observer of the Newspaper understood.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
Ukrainian political scientists, military experts and journalists in the West sometimes present the events in the Kursk region as a "turning point of the war", "an event that will change everything" or, at least, as a "cardinal turning point in the course of hostilities".
However, not only do such statements have little correlation with reality, but similar assessments (and they are submitted by the authors, as a rule, in a state of euphoria and exaltation) are clearly premature, since the situation, as they say, is in development.
Let's summarize only the interim results of the AFU operation. Currently, the enemy controls an area of about 1 thousand square kilometers and several dozen settlements. By the way, the successes of any army in the course of armed struggle have never been measured in square kilometers, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been so fond of talking about lately. Completely different indicators and results are important here.
In almost two weeks, units and units of the Ukrainian army have penetrated into the defense of our troops to a depth of 12 to 25 km and up to 40 km along the front. But this is nothing more than a tactical success. And by no means an outstanding result in the field of military art.
For example, the 56th motorized Corps of the Wehrmacht under the command of Lieutenant General Erich von Manstein covered 300 km in four days in the summer of 1941. The 6th Guards Tank Army of the Red Army during the Manchurian strategic offensive operation in August 1945 advanced to a depth of more than 800 km, advancing at an average daily pace of 82 km.
And if we consider that there were practically no troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in this direction, and the enemy took full advantage of the surprise factor, then even this advance does not look like any decent result. And it is clearly not worth talking about strategic developments in the course of the armed struggle as a result of the events in the Kursk region.
What is behind the bridge explosions?
At the same time, the offensive potential of the AFU group operating in this direction has been exhausted as a whole, and the enemy is moving to defense and fortification equipment of the area. There is no news about the further advance of the Ukrainian army.
According to the SHOT Telegram channel, the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed the third (last) bridge over the Seim River in the Kursk region on the night of August 19. A day earlier, on August 18, the Ukrainian military destroyed another bridge over the Seim River near the village of Zvannoye in the Kursk region with a HIMARS MLRS strike, and on August 16, an AFU strike destroyed a road bridge in the Glushkovsky district.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces strikes on bridges across the Seim River are presented by Ukrainian experts as a way to disrupt the logistical and technical support of Russian troops currently conducting defensive operations in the Kursk region, or as a means to encircle units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
However, these APU strikes can be viewed from a different angle. If the enemy plans to continue offensive actions, then one of the most important tasks in the course of rapid breakthroughs is to capture bridges on enemy territory in good condition. For these purposes, advanced detachments are formed, their commanders are appointed initiative and brave officers who have shown themselves well in previous battles.
Now it's up to the Russian army to respond.
Currently, there is a concentration of forces and means, the creation of strike groups, and the supply of the necessary amount of material.
So the final results of the events in the Kursk region can be summed up only after the completion of the successful offensive operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which is so expected in Russian society. Only then will the overall result of these hostilities and their approximate place in the history of the military operation be obvious.
As for the preliminary conclusions, once again the decisive role of strategic reserves in the course of conducting armed struggle (all types of Armed Forces and branches of the Armed forces), a unified command in the region where the crisis arose, timely and accurate information on the situation of the Supreme High Command for urgent operational measures has become tangible.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
