Revelations about the Kursk offensive Russia has been expecting a Ukrainian attack for months

Carsten Dörges

20.9.2024

Ukrainian soldiers on the advance in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian soldiers on the advance in the Kursk region.
Bild: Keystone

The Russian military leadership had anticipated Ukraine's invasion of the Kursk region and had been making plans for months to prevent it. Documents probably prove the chaotic behavior.

No time? blue News summarizes for you

  • At the beginning of August, Ukrainian troops invaded the Kursk region, apparently taking the Russians by surprise.
  • However, explosive documents now show that Russia had been anticipating the Ukrainian attack for months.
  • This revelation makes the confusion among the Russian armed forces following the Ukrainian attack all the more incomprehensible.

The Russian military leadership appeared completely surprised when the Ukrainian forces invaded the Kursk region without much resistance and made huge territorial gains. However, explosive documents now show that Russia had been anticipating the Ukrainian attack for months. Extensive plans were made to prevent the attack.

This emerges from documents which the Ukrainian army claims to have seized from abandoned Russian positions in the region and which have been made available to the British Guardian.

A Ukrainian special operations team claimed to have stolen Russian documents from the Ministry of the Interior, the FSB and the army from buildings in the Kursk region. The earliest entries are dated late 2023, while the most recent documents were created just six weeks before Ukraine's invasion of the Kursk region on August 6.

A document dated January 4 already warns of the "possibility of a breakthrough at the state border" by Ukrainian armed groups. On February 19, there was a further warning for Russian commanders about Ukrainian plans "to advance from the Sumy region up to 80 km deep into Russian territory".

In mid-March, the units on the border were ordered to strengthen their defenses in preparation for a Ukrainian border attack.

All these warnings were to no avail, and during the chaotic retreat of the Russian army, the Ukrainian forces captured hundreds of Russian soldiers, including many conscripts.