Russia stations 37,000 troops in Kursk region, aims to push Ukrainian forces out by October 15
Russia has concentrated 37,000 soldiers in the Kursk region. The Russian authorities have set a task for the troops to dislodge the Ukrainian Armed Forces by mid-October, according to RBC-Ukraine article "Peace plan and end of war? Is West pushing Ukraine to negotiations and how Zelenskyy will respond".
The Kremlin regime wanted to assemble a 5-to-1 ratio of troops for a counteroffensive in the Kursk region. Now, this proportion has probably not yet been achieved.
Informed sources of RBC-Ukraine say that Russia has now concentrated about 37,000 troops in the Kursk region. On September 10-11, they launched a counteroffensive operation to push back Ukrainian troops.
One of the sources in the military says that Russian troops have been tasked with pushing Ukrainian forces out of the entire Kursk region by October 15 and creating a buffer zone in the border regions by October 30.
Given that Ukraine's General Staff is aware of the Russian plans and is preparing to counter them, these goals may remain only on paper.
“At least a month ago, some of the agency's interlocutors in the military leadership made much more pessimistic predictions about Ukraine's ability to hold the occupied part of Kursk than what happened,” the article says.
Fighting in Kursk region
Since August 6, Ukrainian forces have been conducting an offensive in the Kursk region of Russia. Ukraine controls more than 100 settlements and has established a military commandant's office.
Russia has launched recently its own offensive in the Kursk region to drive the Ukrainian army out of its positions. According to British intelligence, the Russians have not yet achieved notable success.
Commenting on the Russian counterattack, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the operation in the Kursk region was going according to plan.
Read more about how the situation in the Kursk region in RBC-Ukraine's article.