The End of the Kursk Bulge

Hello everybody!

A relatively short one to ‘announce’ the end of the Ukrainian bulge/salient inside the Kursk Oblast of the Russian Federation.

Essentially, the withdrawal began on 7 March, by when the Russians were pounding what was left of the bulge/salient with all available means, including artillery and air strikes. ‘Typical example’ was the video showing them demolishing an entire ZSU column stalled in front of a destroyed bridge, from which this still was taken:

By 8 March, the Ukrainian position in the Sudzha area became untenable: not only that the Russians were bombing everything and everywhere around the town, but they’ve had troops inside the town. Could be that, contrary to the Ukrainian claims, they’ve really managed to infiltrate with help of the pipeline; could be they’ve managed that in a different fashion. Certain is, there were vicious firefights all over the town, the last three days, as the troops from the 22nd SSO And the 129th TD Brigade were acting as a rear-guard to buy time for units formerly deployed north and east of the town to withdraw.

A still from a Russian video showing ZSU troops withdrawing from Sudzha.

Amid the resulting chaos, and as obvious from photos released by the Russians and attached below, Ukrainians literally had to run from Sudzha, and have suffered significant losses in troops and equipment.

This disabled M1A1 couldn’t be withdrawn on time and was captured and towed away by the Russians.

One of at least two M2/M3 Bradleys left behind and captured by the Russians.

….dead ZSU troops with an abandoned M113 armoured personnel carrier…

…and a completely destroyed Ukrainian MRAP, with bodies of yet additional troops still inside… sadly, dozens of ZSU vehicles were knocked out by the Russian artillery, UAVs, air strikes, and anti-tank guided missiles during the hurried withdrawal.

As is obvious from images shown above - and many others, plus several videos meanwhile circulated in the Russian social media: dozens of Ukrainian troops were killed while trying to escape; dozens captured during the withdrawal: many summarily executed...

I wouldn’t be surprised if there are still few scattered groups inside Russia, trying to find a way back to own lines...

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Why such a ‘sudden’ collapse of the bulge and then such a hurried Ukrainian withdrawal?

As far as can be assessed based on currently available information, the reason is that simultaneously with attacking from the north and east in direction of Sudzha, probably also infiltrating the town, the last two days the Russians launched an all-out attack over the international border into Ukraine west of Sudzha. From Nikolaevo-Darino and Sverdlikovo in southern direction.

Obvious aim was to reach the H07 highway, and thus cut off the sole supply route for the ZSU units inside Russia. As far as I can say, they’ve overrun the (completely demolished) border villages of Zhuravka and Novenke in the process. Might have reached Basivka, too. Simultaneously, the Russians and North Koreans continued their assaults from the Kurilovka area, too.

A still from a video showing three Russian Ka-52 attack helicopters underway in direction of the area west of Sudzha. The last few days, both Ka-52s and Su-25s of the VKS were very active over the battlefield in this sector.

Thus, there was a threat of the ZSU units still inside the bulge/salient being cut off .

Sure, the Glavcom (General) Syrsky - who assumed direct command of the sector - claimed there’s no danger of encirclement, but it seems that he’s been overtaken by developments, as so often. Already around the time Syrsky was giving that interview, the mass of the ZSU troops was withdrawn from Russia.

So, if there was ‘no threat of encirclement’, as claimed by Syrsky (which would indicate his gross mis-assessment of the situation, too), then not because of anything he did, but - most likely - because commanders in situ acted on their own and ordered their troops out before it would be too late. It would be typical for Syrsky: that way, he’s continuing his policy of never ordering withdrawals, but letting brigade/battalion-commanders do so at their own discretion and then blaming them for insubordination.

At least that’s the only ‘bad news’ for Ukraine as of this morning: thanks to Drapaty, the situations in Kupyansk, Toretsk, and Pokrovsk sectors are far better. Indeed, despite the critical situation in the Kursk area….i.e. now it’s actually the south-eastern Sumy Oblast in Ukraine, actually: a cease-fire right now - as ‘offered’ by Dumpf to Russia following ‘the meeting’ in Saudi Arabia - would foremost serve Russia. Principally because the VSRF is experiencing a deep crisis both in the Pokrovsk- and Toretsk-sectors...

Besides, Pudding has several times stressed, he does not want any kind of ceasefire.

But then, with Pudding, it's like with Dumpf... which reminds me that in 2016 Dumpf signed a similar 'minerals treaty' with Afghanistan like he’s now pushing Ukraine to sign: one, promising to bolster the life of the population in exchange for letting US companies work there....

...and then, a year later, he negotiated with terrorists to sign another treaty with the Taliban, which led to the US (and thus all the allied) withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021...