Media: Russia deploys thousands of soldiers to Kursk

Russia appears to have redirected several thousand troops from occupied territories in Ukraine to counter a surprisingly successful Ukrainian offensive within Russia's borders, a move that could potentially weaken Moscow’s broader war effort.

The development has caught the attention of American officials, who are now assessing the scale of the troop movements, Caliber.Az reports citing the foreign media.

Sources indicate that multiple brigade-sized units, each consisting of at least 1,000 soldiers, have been redeployed to the Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an operation last week.

“It is apparent to us that Mr. Putin and the Russian military are diverting some resources, some units, towards the Kursk Oblast to ostensibly counter what the Ukrainians are doing,” said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

Kirby emphasised that these troop movements away from Ukraine do not imply that Putin has abandoned military operations in northeastern Ukraine or in the south, near areas like Zaporizhzhia. "There's still active fighting along that front," he added.

However, the troop movements have raised the intriguing possibility that what initially seemed like a quixotic attempt by Ukraine to embarrass Russian President Vladimir Putin could have a more substantial strategic impact on the battlefield, particularly if Ukraine can maintain control of the captured Russian territory.

The Ukrainian operation has impressed American officials, especially due to the Ukrainian military's ability to keep its details under wraps — so much so that the incursion reportedly even surprised US intelligence. While the operation has posed some risks by potentially weakening Ukraine's defences along the 600-mile frontline, it has also succeeded in diverting Russian troops who had been making incremental gains within Ukraine over the summer, sources said.

Ukraine claims to have captured over 1,000 square kilometres (386 square miles) of Russian territory since launching the surprise assault, displacing tens of thousands of Russians from their homes.

A senior US official and a senior European intelligence official noted that a key objective of the Ukrainian operation appears to be creating "strategic dilemmas" for Putin, particularly regarding where Russia should allocate its manpower.

Despite this, officials acknowledged that Russia still has hundreds of thousands of troops on the frontline in Ukraine, so the diversion of a few thousand may not have a significant impact in the short term.

Russia does not seem to be relocating its more experienced and better-trained units from Ukraine to Kursk at this time. Instead, sources indicate that Russia is primarily reinforcing Kursk’s defences with untrained conscripts drawn from other parts of Russia.

“We haven’t observed a substantial redeployment of Russian troops yet, and it’s unclear whether this is because they’re only beginning the movement or if they simply lack the forces to spare,” said one source familiar with US intelligence.