The Second day of the Kursk Incursion According to open sources
Tactical Analysis
Thread🧵
On August 6th the Ukrainians launched a new cross-border operation inside Russia's Kursk Oblast, this time with actual UGF units equipped with western equipment
Day 1 of the operation has already been covered by me yesterday
I want to say for the more sensitive chaps reading this that no information that is not already known to the Russians has or will be shared all these analysis are 1 day late and covering the events of the previous day.
Starting off I have to address some things that I got wrong in my previous assessment, the main thing I got wrong is the Operational ORBAT, my assessment said that only a BTG from the 82nd partook in the maneuver when there was a battalion of the 22nd supporting it
Now let's get into August 7th
Overnight a battalion of the 103rd TDF Brigade reinforced with elements from the Georgian Legion would cross the border and setup on the western flank of the salient.
The 103rd will be acting as the Flank security element throughout the day
In the early morning several Svoboda Rosiya motorized and dismounted combat patrol elements would cross the border once again aiming to secure the western flank of the main effort, some of the positions had already been cleared by the previous day's raids
The main effort during this day would be conducted by the 88th mechanized brigade which would aim to destroy the Russian Rifle company in the border post and then breach the defenses of Sudzha with support from the 22nd Mechanized brigade from the north west.
Around 8AM 2 Ukrainian mechanized companies from the 88th Mechanized brigade likely utilizing M2A2 Bradleys would cross the border and secure the village of Oleshnya while a third supported by Mortars and artillery would put pressure on the Border post housing a Russian company.
The Border Post would be sieged up until the afternoon, being struck by heavy artillery and mortar fire all morning, surrounded the remaining Russians would surrender
In the north a small Russian garrison manning the hamlet of Loknya would be struck by 120mm mortar fire and forced to withdraw.
The 22nd other than that would stay pretty quite throughout the morning as they were waiting on the 88th to clear the border post.
The 82nd would improve their tactical positions and setup on the heights, this is all they would do throughout the day, although it is a very important tactical objective.
The operation on the western flank would go as planned and by the afternoon all the objectives would be secured
After the border post was secured and regrouping was completed the attempted breach of the Russian defenses would initiate.
At first Dismount Combat patrols would bypass the Defenses and enter Sudzha from the south 1/2
Then the 22nd from the north and the 88th from the south would attack the town from the west with the 88th bypassing the defenses through the highway and the 22nd creating breaches in order to secure kazachya Loknya and support the 88th inside the town. 2/2
The Ukrainians would immediately secure the en-heightened positions in and around the town except from kazachya Loknya which would hold on until the night when a general withdrawal would happen behind the river
Although the Ukrainians didn't get the decisive victory they wanted, they still managed to force the Russians out of Sudzha the reason for that was outlined in yesterday's thread.
The Ukrainians still have a 3 to 1 advantage and they have secured most of the heights in the area.
Another event that happened on August 7th was the attempted maneuver by a Ukrainian raiding group towards the town of Korenevo, 8 vehicles would attempt to move into the Russian rear but the Russian defense had already consolidated due to preparations for another axis.
Today additional maneuver troops have been deployed and raiding groups will be more prevalent but we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves.
So That's it for today, thanks for reading
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The first 3 days of the Ukrainian offensive into Kursk oblast, Case study.
I should mention the study is free for anyone on my Substacks and nobody has been asked to give money to me.
There are more details about it in the Thread🧵 lovelylad.substack.com/p/the-ukrainia…
The study took up around 8 months and 130 pages to complete.
10s if not more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers and officers who partook in the operation gave testimonies or agreed to interviews for the study. Other than that 100s of Russian POW interviews were analyzed.
Additionally the study used high res satellite imagery and 1000s of open source videos and images many of which I had to geolocate personally.
In the study many people from the community helped to throw a couple vital names out
A few thoughts about the "2nd Kursk Offensive" analyzing the operation through publicly available sources.
Thread🧵
This operation is obviously inspired by the 1st offensive in August and it tried to recreate its successful breach using similar tactics.
Starting with the deployment of EW jammers near the frontlines to disturb communications with the Russian defensive positions and the employment of certain UAV systems.
The Ukrainian Logistical and Engineering assets, their limitations and capabilities in Kursk
Logistical Analysis
Thread🧵
Logistics are a major factor in all operations and always have an effect in the outcome of an operation.
Certain units have been independently confirmed to be deployed but there are other units that work in the rear that wouldn't get many MIAs but still would most definitely be deployed in support of the Operation.
Why the Russian defense in Kursk Failed.
A talk about Conscripts, Defensive Works, readiness, minefields and more.
Thread🧵
On august 6th two Ukrainian Battalions crossed the border with practically no resistance, where was the Russian defense and what was it doing.
The FSB's Department of the Border Protection office "Suzhda" was in charge of protecting the border in that sector and on paper they had a very good defensive network to work with.
There won't be daily threads anymore, people who are following the situation can get what I provide pretty easily now that most of the chaos is gone but I do have some comments about the last couple days.
Quick Thread🧵
Over the last couple days reinforcements have moved into the Suzhda sector, most units of which have not been identified.
We only know that the subgroup of the 80th air assault is bigger including elements from the 82nd, 80th, 95th and 46th brigades.
The 82nd Brigade itself has been very quite and we believe the 24th Aidar Battalion has taken over most its operations.
Still other units have been spotted with Varta MRAPs, T72AVs, Otokar Cobras, M113s etc
We currently have no idea what they could be.
The 7th day(August 12th) of the Operation
Tactical Analysis
Thread🧵
Addressing some ORBAT changes first, we believe the 82nd has not been involved in fighting since Day 5
Instead the 24th Aidar Battalion is believed to have conducted the operation towards Korenevo but for now we'll leave it on the map until further information comes out.
As it's customary we need to start from Martynovka which was secured by the Ukrainians the previous day.
On day 7 the Russian 810th Marine brigade was completely dislodged from the area including the village of Mykhailovka essentially ending the battle for Martynovka.