Ukrainian soldiers of the 225th Assault Battalion set a trap for Russian forces in Kursk Oblast and destroyed them with High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. This successful tactic helped to inflict massive losses on the occupiers in the area, analyst David Axe writes, according to Forbes.
In 2024, Ukrainian forces began an incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast, with the operation still ongoing. They captured around 1,250 square kilometers of territory, ruining myths of Russian borders’ invincibility. In response, Russia launched a “counter-terrorist operation,” deploying additional troops and air support to repel the incursion. Russia also resorted to using North Korean troops for assistance, with North Korea sending approximately 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers to Kursk Oblast in November 2024.
During the recent Kursk assault, Ukrainian soldiers feigned defeat and retreated, but when Russian forces advanced into a wooded area near the village of Sverdlivkove, the Ukrainian forces hit them with HIMARS.
“When the enemy, believing in his ‘success,’ pulled significant forces into this square, they were targeted with cluster munitions from HIMARS,” the battalion explained.
Axe explains that this ambush, which resulted from careful coordination between the battalion’s headquarters, forward units, and a neighboring artillery brigade, sheds light on the substantial losses among Russian and North Korean troops.
“Not only are the Russian and North Koreans attacking day after day along the same few roads leading toward the town of Sudzha, the anchor of the Ukrainian salient, they’re increasingly doing so on foot—and with too little support. Infantry are vulnerable to artillery, and especially vulnerable when they cluster together in a pre-sighted kill zone,” the analyst notes.
Axe points out that the exact losses suffered by the Russians in this operation remain unclear. Typically, the largest Russian assaults involve around 50 pieces of equipment and several hundred soldiers, but most are much smaller.
Nevertheless, the most significant attacks on Russian and North Korean troops in recent weeks have left hundreds dead or wounded.
“That the 225th Assault Battalion is especially proud of the ambush speaks to the potentially enormous Russian body count,” the expert concluded.
Earlier, a Ukrainian Marine Corps Javelin missile team destroyed seven Russian vehicles over a two-day period in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, demonstrating the continued effectiveness of US-supplied anti-tank systems.
Ukrainian marines destroy seven Russian vehicles with Javelins in Kursk
The $200,000 FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), which carry an 8.4-kg warhead and can engage targets from over 4 kilometers away, were part of more than 10,000 units supplied to Ukraine by former US President Joe Biden’s administration.
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