Ukraine's Kursk Offensive Shows Russia "Can't Attack and Defend At Same Time"

The implication is that Russia is weaker in terms of troop strength and available equipment, than is commonly believed and increasingly has to make choices which limit its options. 

With the Kursk offensive, Ukraine is forcing Russia to make more of those choices and then taking advantage. JL

Thibault Spirlet reports in Business Insider:

Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region shows that Russia can't simultaneously attack and defend, "it had to make a choice." Since Ukraine's surprise attack on Kursk on August 6, Russia has struggled to respond quickly and effectively to Ukraine's offensive, partly due to its complex military structures and a lack of contingency plans. The Kremlin's military response has exposed weaknesses plaguing its military, including poor command and control. Ukraine's incurs ion into Kursk "demonstrates that Russia is at the limit of its capabilities."

Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region shows that Russia can't simultaneously attack and defend, according to a former US ambassador to NATO.

Russia "can't attack Ukraine and defend Russia at the same time, it has had to make a choice," Kurt Volker said at the GLOBSEC conference in Prague on Saturday, per the Kyiv Independent.

Volker added that Russia is "going to have to move forces from Ukraine to defend Russia," and that this is "something we should be taking advantage of with long-range systems to hit them while they move."

Since Ukraine's surprise attack on Kursk on August 6, Russia has struggled to respond quickly and effectively to Ukraine's offensive, partly due to its complex military structures and a lack of contingency plans.

The Kremlin's military response has exposed weaknesses plaguing its military, including poor command and control.

 

Last week, Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander in chief of the Ukrainian military, said Ukrainian forces had claimed close to 500 square miles of Russian territory, forcing Russia to redeploy 30,000 troops to Kursk.

Ukrainian forces were still conducting assaults in Kursk over the weekend, but with no confirmed advances, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank reported.

CIA deputy director David Cohen said at the Intelligence and National Security Summit in Washington last week that Russian forces are in for a "difficult fight" if they want to retake Kursk.

According to Volker, Ukraine's incurs ion into Kursk "demonstrates that Russia is at the limit of its capabilities."

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ISW analysts made a similar observation in an update on Saturday.