Ukraine’s surprise offensive in Russia’s Kursk region resulted in the capture of Sudzha, a town of some 5,000 people. However, the objectives of the campaign, or raid, remain unclear.
“We have handed over some half a million euros worth of equipment to the units there,” said Jonas Ohman, head of the Blue/Yellow organisation. “The first batch we are handing over today is already [destined for the units] following their entry into Kursk.”
Blue/Yellow is the largest humanitarian and military aid NGO in Lithuania and one of the most substantial globally. It is currently supporting Ukrainian troops fighting in the Kursk region.
With almost a decade of support for the Ukrainian army and volunteers, Blue/Yellow works with both regular and elite units and has access to information that is often not available to the public.
“I can say that the operation was a great success in that the Russians were totally unprepared, [they] were defending with Kalashnikovs,” said Ohman. “They were caught with their pants down.”
“There are several objectives. One is to take the pressure from Donbas and that’s been quite successful – we see that the Russians are confused. There are signs that in some parts of the frontline, [Russian] units have stopped their attacks,” Ohman said.
But this is not happening everywhere – in places like Niu-York and Toretsk in the Donetsk region, where the Ukranians have recently suffered setbacks – Russian troops are still pushing deeper into Ukraine.
“The other objective for the Ukrainians is to change the dynamics of the conflict by sending a [political] signal to Russia and others,” Ohman noted.
He said he could not disclose further details on the purpose of the operation.
The organisation is now mainly working on the transfer of drones to the Kursk front. “It’s very interesting – the Ukrainian drone capability in a place where the Russians have almost no air defence has been very useful,” said Ohman.
Different versions
The Ukrainian leadership has not yet publicly identified the objectives of the operation. “Military experts say that this is a step that is completely incomprehensible according to traditional warfare,” Alvydas Medalinskas, an analyst and LRT RADIO contributor who has been spending most of his time in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, wrote on his Facebook account on Thursday.
“The only reason why the Ukrainians have survived this war, which has lasted two and a half years, is that they are making a lot of unexpected moves, both for the Russians and the West,” he added.
Yuri Butuzov, a prominent Ukrainian military analyst and blogger, criticised the decision of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to launch an operation in the Kursk region. According to Lithuanian analysts Locked N' Loaded, his scepticism is understandable given the confrontation between the influential analyst with millions of followers and the Kyiv leadership.
“There is a risk of depleting reserves and then there will be no one to counter new attacks, as happened in 2023 when our reserves were depleted and Avdiivka was lost as a result,” Butuzov wrote on social media on Wednesday.
Following Moscow’s statements that the offensive had been stopped, unconfirmed reports by Russian military bloggers claimed that Ukraine’s raids had pushed as far as 25 kilometres from the border.
As with other details, LRT.lt cannot independently verify this information. There is also no confirmed information about the ongoing situation on the Kursk front available to the international media or the Ukrainian press.
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