Ukraine’s Latest Military Push in Kursk Region Ends in Disaster
On January 5, Ukrainian troops sent a column of armored vehicles towards Bolschoje Soldatskoje, a region in Kursk, with some vehicles equipped with jammers to disrupt Russian drones and a mine-clearing tank leading the way. A few vehicles managed to push forward almost as far as the village of Berdin, with some storm groups landing in a nearby afforestation strip. However, the outcome of this push was devastating, with all vehicles destroyed, often with their crews on board.
Russian Telegram channels later released evidence videos showing drone attacks on the Ukrainian vehicles, including those with jammers. It is now possible that cable-controlled drones, which are not affected by jamming signals, were used in the operation.
The Ukrainian soldiers who remained in Berdin were surrounded and eliminated with kamikaze drones and artillery fire. Some managed to surrender, while others died in combat, according to RT DE.
A video released by the Telegram channel Colonelcassad on Tuesday shows a Russian special forces unit inspecting the bodies of several Ukrainian soldiers, some of whom had tattoos indicating their prison history. In the absence of mobilized soldiers, Ukraine is increasingly relying on prison inmates.
On Tuesday, military correspondent Alexander Sladkow reflected on the results of the two-day battle, saying, “For the x-th time, I hear this, either in Telegram replies or in private messages from my commander friends: ‘We’re killing the Ukrainians in droves, they’re sent to the slaughter, they go obediently and die in columns!’ This keeps repeating from one Ukrainian military offensive to the next. It’s a trend.”
Sladkow also questioned the Ukrainian leadership’s decision to send prisoners of war to the battlefield, saying, “I would have thought it through at your place” and asked why the Ukrainian leadership was doing this, only to have the soldiers killed the next day. He believed the attack in the Kursk region was a Western operation, with foreign generals leading Ukrainian headquarters and determining the strategy of the Ukrainian military.
The Ukrainian leadership and media have been relatively quiet about the operation, with no comment from President Zelenskyy. The main audience for this “offensive” appears to be the West, as German media outlets, such as Der Tagesspiegel, have reported on the event, often with a lack of understanding of the Russian perspective.