Russia has deployed a regiment of its aerospace forces to the Kursk region due to manpower shortages amid the ongoing incursion into Ukraine, according to an independent Russian investigative outlet.
President Vladimir Putin’s so-called “space troops” were tasked with repelling Ukrainian forces after kyiv introduced a cross-border incursion on August 6 in Kursk, catching Moscow off guard, Top Stories reported on Sunday.
So far, Ukrainian forces have seized 1,150 square kilometers (444 square miles) of Russian territory and 82 settlements in Kursk, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrsky said on August 15.
The scale of the offensive is significant: Ukraine would have conquered in a few days more territory in the Kursk region than Russia has conquered in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops show no signs of slowing down.
It is the first time that foreign troops have taken over Russian territory since World War II.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
Citing a person familiar with the matter, Important Stories said a transitional regiment of motorized riflemen from the Russian Aerospace Forces had been deployed to Kursk, which borders Ukraine’s Sumy region.
The unit, created between May and June, is made up of workers from security and logistics companies, engineers, mechanics, some officials and army personnel from a Russian spaceport. There are also workers from special warehouses of the Aerospace Forces and radar stations in Russia’s Voronezh region, which in the past were a match for Russia’s nuclear deterrent power.
The Institute for the Study of War, a United States-based tank, said Sunday in its latest investigation into the standoff that the Kursk incursion also forces Russia to redeploy its frontline troops in Ukraine. The ISW added that “probably the later stages of the fighting in Russia will require more Russian commitments in terms of manpower and apparatus in the region. “
The think tank cited an article published in the Wall Street Journal on August 17, which said that about 5,000 more people had already been transferred from Ukraine to Kursk on August 13.
The report “concurs with a report that Russian forces had redeployed up to 11 battalions to the front line in Kursk Oblast as of August 11,” the ISW said.
“Russian forces have redeployed more forces in Kursk province since the first week of the Ukrainian incursion and have most likely redeployed more than 5,000 workers in Kursk province in total,” ISW added. The think tank said the precise amount of manpower and apparatus Putin will want in Kursk will depend on how strongly Zelensky’s troops protect newly captured settlements.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek journalist founded in Kuala Lumpur. It focuses on the war between Russia and Ukraine. Isabel joined Newsweek in 2021 and in the past worked with media outlets such as Daily Express, The Times, Harper’s BAZAAR, and Grazia. She holds a master’s degree in news journalism from City University of London and a bachelor’s degree in journalism. in Russian language at Queen Mary, University of London. Languages: English, Russian
You can contact Isabel by emailing i. vanbrugen@newsweek. com or by following her on X @isabelvanbrugen
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