Ukraine’s troops vastly outnumbered and facing ‘huge swarms’ of Russian drones in Kursk retreat
Troops outnumbered by as much as six to one on the battlefield, the main supply route cut off and swarms of drones attacking vehicles and soldiers retreating across the border back into Ukraine. That is the picture painted by a senior Ukrainian army officer as Kyiv’s forces are pushed back from their foothold in Russia‘s Kursk by Vladimir Putin‘s troops.
Russian forces, with the help of thousands of North Korean troops, have been upping the pressure on Ukraine’s ranks for the last two weeks – as Kyiv looks to hang onto the land it audaciously seized last summer.
The colonel, with connections to the General Staff of Ukraine’s army – who has not been named in order for him to speak to The Independent freely – said that his country’s troops were outnumbered by three to one at a minimum, but that became six to one in some areas.
He added that the number of drones used by the Russians to target soldiers had grown in recent weeks. “Huge swarms of Russian drones hover above the main retreat route for the Ukrainians,” he said. “They are being operated by more skilled Russian drone pilots than we’ve seen previously, especially FPV [first person view] pilots.
“So Ukrainian armoured vehicles, thin-skinned vehicles like pickups and ambulances, artillery and other equipment are having to run a relentless gauntlet as they head south towards the Ukrainian border.”
He said that withdrawing vehicles make easy targets in daytime – less so at night – although Russian drones with night vision or heat-seeking systems can still pinpoint Ukrainian targets.
There has always been only one major route into Kursk from Ukraine’s Sumy region, which saw Kyiv’s forces roll in against feeble opposition in August. That road, along which The Independent travelled with Ukrainian forces in the wake of that assault, was the most important conduit for its weapons and ammunition replenishments, food, water, medical supplies and evacuation.
The colonel said that this single road was also always the major weakness for Kyiv’s forces, which the Russians are now exploiting.
However, the colonel was at pains to point out that while Putin has boasted that Ukrainians are in mass flight with thousands surrounded by his troops, the withdrawal had not descended into complete chaos. “It’s not a rout and our troops are mostly withdrawing in a disciplined way rather than fleeing in disarray,” the colonel said.
He added that although Kyiv’s forces are being beaten back, “large Ukrainian formations have not been surrounded, as the Russians claim, but some small units may have lost contact and might be in danger of being encircled”.
Moscow’s forces have said in recent days that they have taken control of Sudzha, the largest town Kyiv’s forces had seized. But the colonel said that Ukraine still held positions beyond the town and would keep fighting as long as possible.
He said: “Ukrainian forces are still fighting hard and holding positions to the northwest and west of Sudzha. They will fight as long as possible because we still hope to use the remaining Russian territory we hold to trade for Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine in any future negotiations.”
Putin, who visited Kursk last week, has threatened that the Ukrainian soldiers he claims are surrounded will face death unless they surrender. The colonel said that Ukrainian forces do not believe that surrender guarantees staying alive, citing a video flagged by the Ukrainian parliamentary commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, which Mr Lubinets alleged shows Ukrainian prisoners of war being executed. The colonel suggested that footage came from Kursk.
The colonel said: “A video has emerged of five Ukrainian prisoners in Kursk being executed… Those executions are not random. We know Russian commanders are ordering their men to execute Ukrainian prisoners and the number of such executions is growing.”
