Today, there are a lot of important updates from the Kursk direction.
Here, the Ukrainians are intensifying their offensive operations along the Russian border near Tyotkino. As Ukrainian forces pushed deeper into Kursk, powerful HIMARS and strikes of the Ukrainian Air Force played a critical role in turning the tide and setting the stage for further Ukrainian assaults, coming increasingly close to capturing another tactically valuable settlement.
The Ukrainian forces continued with their border incursion towards Tyotkino. Strategically, this operation aims to divert the Russian attention away from their summer campaign in the Donbas and keep them tied to Kursk Oblast. Tactically, this is meant to stretch the Russian defenses further to expose their vulnerabilities for additional Ukrainian counterattacks in Kursk.
The Ukrainian attack at Novy Put, where they exploited a gap in the dragon’s teeth fortifications, divided Russian attention. This allowed Ukrainians to increase the pressure elsewhere and continue pressuring the tactically significant settlement of Tyotkino, which would significantly improve Ukrainians’ positioning.
By controlling Tyotkino, the Ukrainian forces could shorten their border defenses by over 15 kilometers. Securing the settlement would also allow the Ukrainian forces to use the residential houses to deploy and conceal lots of soldiers and heavy equipment in the area, making it difficult for the Russians to identify or target them.
Additionally, Tyotkino is right next to the Ukrainian border and very distant from the main Russian logistics hub at Glushkovo, exposing the deployment of Russian reinforcements along open roads, undermining the Russians’ offensive and defensive capabilities.
HIMARS hits and drones hunt armor
To take the settlement, the Ukrainians intensified their HIMARS strikes to deny Russians the artillery support needed to overwhelm Ukrainian ground assaults. Geolocated footage from the area reveals how the Ukrainians detected a North Korean Juche multiple-launch-rocket-artillery system, and relayed the location to a nearby HIMARS battery. The North Korean system was subsequently destroyed with pinpoint accuracy, as the HIMARS projectile ignited the ammo and destroyed the system.
On top of that, the Ukrainian Air Force conducted precision strikes to eliminate Russian forces’ concentrations and fortifications in Tyotkino and clear the way for frontline assaults. The Ukrainian aircraft managed to conduct three successful strikes on Russian positions at Tyotkino train station, eliminating Russian forces with utmost precision, and exposing a weak point for direct Ukrainian attack towards it.
Afterwards, the Ukrainians deployed FPV drones to scout the area for any concealed Russian armored vehicles hidden in abandoned buildings, leading to the destruction of multiple Russian T-72-B3 tanks, denying Russian infantry armored support for the defense.
The activity of Ukrainian MiG-29s in this area implies that the Ukrainians successfully suppressed Russian air defense systems during the early stages of their incursion, meaning that many more air strikes could be conducted in the future. With the success of HIMARS batteries and the Air Force doing massive damage to Russian combat capabilities, ground assault units were poised to make another breakthrough.
Troops push in, Russia stretched thin
The Ukrainian assault groups advanced in the southwestern part of Tyotkino. They secured the fields to the southeast, entering the first streets in the town that would serve as a staging ground for further operations. Geolocated evidence also indicates that Ukrainians have cleared the mines on the road and were able to move armored vehicles past the anti-tank ditches and into the town.
If Russians want to stop Ukrainians from continuously launching incursions and attacks across the region, they would have to divert to their tactics of continuous small infantry group assaults to pin Ukrainians down. Doing this over such a massive part of the frontline would drain similar resources to Russian efforts at Pokrovsk, equating to hundreds of Russian soldiers a day. So even if Russians manage to halt Ukrainian attacks, the cost of doing that alone would put a massive drain on their manpower reserves, allocated to their summer offensive in the east.
Overall, the Ukrainians are continuing with their border-pressuring campaign, increasing the intensity of their assaults and advancing against poorly prepared Russian border units in Tyotkino. With intense fire from Ukrainian HIMARS units and the Air Force silencing Russian guns, Ukrainian infantry and mechanized units have been able to continue to press forward the advance, creating another problem for Russian commanders in Kursk to deal with. To halt the Ukrainians and prevent further incursions, the Russian command will be forced to maintain a significant force in the Kursk sector.
n 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.
