The AFU Offensive in the Kursk Oblast, Day 13

The Ukrainian army is conducting an offensive operation in the Kursk Oblast for the thirteenth day. The Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) heavily damaged two of the three bridges over the Sejm River, which was the most important supply artery for the Russian army near the border. The head of Korenevo district urged local residents to evacuate and “not to return home” — including to the district center of Korenevo, on the outskirts of which the fighting is taking place.

IStories tells about the main changes on the thirteenth day of fighting.

Fighting

The AFU attacked another bridge over the Sejm River — in the village of Zvannoye, Glushkovsky district, reported Z-bloggers and the Mash Telegram channel close to the security forces. According to the channels, it was hit by a HIMARS MLRS. This bridge, as well as the bridge in the village of Glushkovo destroyed by the Ukrainian military on Thursday, was used for important communications of Russian troops — weapons and food. Civilians and Russian soldiers could also evacuate through them.

The commander of the AFU Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, published a video of the strike. According to an assessment by Rybar, a Telegram channel close to the Russian Defense Ministry, the bridge in Zvannoye was heavily damaged, but may be usable for pedestrians and, in some cases, for light vehicles. Currently, the only bridge in the district that can be fully used by the Russian Armed Forces is in the village of Karyzh.

At the same time, the situation in Kursk region remains “stably tense:” the AFU is gaining ground in the occupied territory and accumulating forces, “pulling up” both engineering and air defense equipment, the blogger writes. There is some fighting, but there are no attempts to advance on either side in all frontline areas - Glushkovsky, Korenevsky, Suzhansky and Belovsky.

Ukrainian military analyst Konstantin Mashovets notes that the goal of the AFU appears to be to take full control of a part of the Kursk Oblast south of the Sejm River from Alekseevka to the Spalnoye-Girya border.

According to the expert, the operational density of the Russian troops does not allow to completely slow down the movement of the AFU, so they are holding a “focal defense” — thanks to which mobile groups and units of the AFU find “gaps” in the enemy's defense and advance on its flanks and rear. At the same time, they are trying to build up the defense and transform it into a “solid defense,” Mashovec writes.

Evacuation of civilians

The head of Korenevsky district Marina Degtyareva on her page on VK urged residents not to try to return home. “Complicated operational situation. Some citizens do not leave attempts to return home, thereby interfering with the work of our military. Returning to the area is still impossible for local residents, and sometimes even turns into terrible tragedies,” the official wrote.

When asked by IStories whether it was necessary to leave the urban-type settlement of Korenevo, which is one of the district centers, an interlocutor in the Korenevo district administration said, “It was high time to leave.” According to Z-channels, “fierce fighting” is taking place on the outskirts of Korenevo, near the settlements of Olgovka and Komarovka. At the same time, the district center itself is said to be under the control of the Russian Armed Forces.

Pro-Russian military blogger Romanov light published a video in which he is traveling in a car and a man in the passenger seat in camouflage clothing says that “it would be reasonable to evacuate both Rylsk and Lgov now.” “Near the bridge blown up not evacuated in full, the people do not know what to do, and the administration closed on the key,” the speaker shared.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, more than 1,700 people were evacuated from four municipal districts of the Kursk Oblast over the past day. About 10 thousand residents of the region are in 174 temporary accommodation centers in 24 regions.

“Space infantry"

As IStories found out, due to a shortage of personnel, the motorized rifle regiment has been decommissioned from units of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), including nuclear warning stations and heavy bomber regiments. A temporary motorized rifle regiment was assembled from them, which is already suffering casualties on the battlefield.

According to our interlocutor familiar with the situation in the VKS units, the unit included men from the security and material support companies, engineers, mechanics and a small number of officers from the flying staff. They were assigned to the infantry from the airfields Ukrainka in the Altai Krai, Belaya in the Irkutsk Oblast and Engels in the Saratov Oblast. All of these airbases are home to Tu-22M or Tu-95 heavy bombers, from which they launch missiles at Ukrainian cities.

On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a source, that the Russian Armed Forces had transferred about five thousand troops from Ukraine to the Kursk Oblast, including from the Donetsk Oblast, where Russian troops are on the offensive. According to the newspaper's source, Russia needs at least 20,000 soldiers to stop and dislodge the AFU from the region. According to him, the AFU grouping in Kursk Oblast is approximately six thousand soldiers, while another four thousand support the operation in Sumy Oblast.