Intensive Attrition: Ukraine Has Lost Over 20,650 Personnel in Kursk Operation - Reports

The Ukrainian Armed Forces and accompanying foreign forces have lost over 20,650 personnel in the Russian Kursk region since the beginning of an assault on the territory in early August, according to estimates from the Russian Defence Ministry. The ministry reported on October 6 that Ukrainian forces lost over 400 soldiers and 16 pieces of military equipment in clashes Kursk’s border areas over the past 24 hours, with separate reports highlighting that the Russian Air Force had deployed Su-34 strike fighters to neutralise targets in the region. In parallel to the massive assault on Kursk initiated on August 6, the Ukrainian Army launched a failed simultaneous attack on Russia’s Belgorod Region, taking heavy losses in the process. A report by the Washington Post cited wounded Ukrainian personnel evacuated from the frontlines, noting that the assault involved a “fleet of armoured vehicles [moving] in broad daylight,” with one soldier describing the operation as “crazy.”

Ukrainian forces were from the outset widely predicted to take extreme losses in Kursk, with the assault force being isolated from the rest of the Ukrainian Army and surrounded by larger numbers of Russian forces on multiple sides. Operating with much less air defence coverage than in the heavily fortified Donbas regions where most fighting took place, forces in Kursk have also been far more vulnerable to Russian air strikes. Losses have been particularly damaging due to the large number of elite units committed, including those with some of Ukraine’s most advanced equipment such as T-80 and Leopard 2A6 tanks. Russian sources have optimistically predicted that the heavy loses in Kursk could accelerate the gains being made by Russian ground units in the Donbas once the Kursk incursion force is fully defeated, as it will leave Ukrainian forces on the frontlines significantly weakened.

A growing number of details have emerged since early August regarding the roles of personnel from NATO member states in supporting the assault on Kursk, with the Forward Observations Group American military organisation notably having confirmed the deployment of its personnel in Kursk. The group posted their pictures in the region, which was confirmed by geolocation data. Ukrainian personnel have attested to the presence of personnel from NATO member states in the offensive, with a notable example widely cited by Russian sources being a serviceman from the 80th Airborne Assault Brigade, Ruslan Poltoratsky, who stated: "When we crossed the border with Russia, at first I thought there was some line noise. But then I distinguished what they were saying - they were speaking English, Polish, maybe even French. I did not understand anything, I said into the walkie-talkie - 'repeat, repeat,' hearing some gibberish.” "When they had already taken positions [in the Kursk Region], they also went on the air with their superiors, with ours as well, and I also heard them saying something in English and in some other language. Something about houses, chaos," he added. Russian military sources, and civilians in areas held by Ukrainian and allied forces on multiple occasions separately reported on the operations of Western personnel in Kursk. Major General Apty Alaudinov, deputy chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ Main Military-Political Department and commander of the Akhmat Special Forces commando unit, has stated that a large number of French and Polish military contractors were encountered during operations. The extent of the losses among Western forces in the operation remains uncertain.