Today, there are a lot of important updates from the Kursk direction.
Here, the Russians launched a renewed assault on Malaya Loknya as an opportunistic response to the Ukrainian offensive northeast of Sudzha, integrating North Korean human shields into their assault groups. However, Ukrainians were shown to have taken the right precautions, dismantling the combined assault from the safety of their basements.
The goal of the Russian forces was to try to take control of Malaya Loknya and cut off the northern part of Kursk Salient. This would allow the Russians to reduce the length of the frontline by forcing a large number of Ukrainian forces to withdraw or surrender and allow them to attack further south toward Sudzha.
Malaya Loknya is the second most powerful Ukrainian stronghold in the Kursk Salient after Sudzha, as it serves both as a logistical hub and a powerful stronghold due to the local prison. Control of Malaya Loknya allows the Ukrainians to effectively defend the northern part of the Kursk Salient since the fortified positions allow for the establishment of underground ammunition storages, while the town’s infrastructure allows for the accumulation of a large Ukrainian rapid response force.
Once Ukrainians launched their offensive northeast of Sudzha, Russian commanders believed that Ukrainians had redirected all their forces here, at the expense of their defense in Malaya Loknya, making Russians believe that Malaya Loknya was ripe for the taking.
To test the Ukrainian defenses for weak spots, Russians sent in the North Koreans as a first meat wave assault to probe Ukrainian defenses, which were promptly eliminated by Ukrainian drones and a final clearing operation.
Once the North Korean meat wave assaults had revealed Ukrainian positions, Russians integrated Russian soldiers into these units, who had access to armored vehicles and artillery support. Ukrainian soldiers on the ground also reported an unprecedented number of Russian air strikes in the Kursk direction, as images of contrails in the skies above Kursk only reinforced these claims.
The main Russian advantages here are the forests and the village located to the west of Malaya Loknya. The houses and nearby forests allow the Russians and North Koreans to accumulate a large number of soldiers, enabling them to achieve numerical superiority over the Ukrainians. Furthermore, the activity of the Russian Air Force provided them with a significant firepower advantage, suppressing Ukrainian positions ahead of main Russian assaults.
However, the terrain configuration heavily favored Ukrainians, as the prison complex on the high ground overlooked the Russian approaches to the settlements. Ukrainians also took precautionary measures, scattering anti-tank landmines with drones to further complicate any Russian mechanized assault over the fields.
On top of that, the Russian mechanized units, unlike infantry, must traverse ten kilometers to reach the frontline positions, while the frontline is less than five hundred meters away from the Ukrainian supply hub at Malaya Loknya, allowing Ukrainians to quickly deploy a response force to counter the Russian assaults.
To minimize losses from Russian airstrikes, Ukrainians also stationed a minimal number of soldiers within Malaya Loknya on purpose, taking cover in basements and underground structures to survive the attacks. Since the main attack consisted of Russian mechanized units, Ukrainians could dismantle them from their basements through the previously placed anti-tank mines, drones, and concentrated artillery fire, while the main Ukrainian contingent remained safely in Malaya Loknya to counterattack the surviving Russian soldiers.
Combat footage from the area reveals a platoon of Russian BTR-82A and Tiger armored personnel carriers on their way toward Malaya Loknya. Unfortunately for the Russians, the lead vehicle was destroyed by a landmine, thereafter the rest quickly followed. Subsequently, the Russian and North Korean infantrymen who dismounted and attempted to hold on to new positions in the area were targeted and cleared out by Ukrainian counterattacks, with concentrated tank fire eliminating the remaining holdouts.
Overall, the Ukrainians accepted the loss of some ground and used it to drain the Russian counteroffensive wave that was desperately launched to quickly take Malaya Loknya while Ukrainians attacked Bolshoe Soldatskoe. This tactic allowed them to save their forces, which they later used to retake the lost ground, successfully defending Malaya Loknya, and denying Russians an opportunistic surprise breakthrough.
In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
