Ipse by Tag - Kursk | IPSE DIXIT

David Silbey

Inserted 2 days ago

“Gains in Kursk could boost Ukrainian morale and change the battlefield narrative at a critical time in the war. It would also be a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's image as a strong man defending Russia. Ukraine's chances of success in Kursk are higher than in the heavily fortified eastern front. Russia not only has most of its forces deployed in eastern Ukraine but also extensive defensive lines. An offensive [in eastern Ukraine] would be a slow grind likely with limited success and heavy casualties, and it would weaken Ukrainian defenses in the area. The Ukrainian units are already wearing down really badly in eastern Ukraine and I don't think Zelenskiy wants to hasten that. I do not expect Ukraine's offensive in Kursk to last long considering the manpower constraints. In some ways, I see this as the opening salvo in the peace negotiations, getting Ukraine into as strong a position as it can be, and giving more to trade back to Russia at the negotiating table.”

Rferl

Professor of military history at Cornell University in the United States

10 Jan 2025 13 6

John Nagl

Inserted 2 days ago

“Ukraine's center of gravity is U.S. support. Any gains it makes inside Russia will make it harder for the new administration to call the war a lost cause. Russian gains in the vicinity of Pokrovsk are militarily significant and have political weight; Kursk is of less military importance.”

Rferl

Professor at the U.S. Army War College

09 Jan 2025 3 6

Volodymyr Fesenko

Inserted 5 days ago

“It is important for Ukraine to have a bridgehead in the Kursk region as an instrument of pressure in the negotiations and as an opportunity to negotiate a territorial exchange. Ukraine doesn't need any territory in Russia. Ukraine can negotiate to withdraw from the Kursk region, but in exchange, for example, for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kharkiv region. Such an option is possible.”

Rferl

Kyiv-based analyst

07 Jan 2025 7 3

Ruslan Muzychuk

Inserted 5 days ago

“What we are seeing now has an effect not only on the north of the Kharkiv region - on the enemy's activity along the border with the Sumy region - but also on other directions of the front.”

Rferl

Spokesman for Ukraine's National Guard

07 Jan 2025 7 3

Yan Matveyev

Inserted 6 days ago

“It's difficult to assume that Ukrainian forces have enough reserves to occupy vast territories in the Kursk region, including Kursk itself. They might try and expand their foothold ahead of negotiations. Besides, an attack like that makes the defensive side, Russia in this case, accumulate additional forces, thus weakening possible attacks in other parts of the front.”

Rferl

Russian military analyst

06 Jan 2025 5 5

Antony Blinken

Inserted 6 days ago

“Their position in Kursk is an important one because certainly it's something that would factor in any negotiation that may come about in the coming year.”

Rferl

U.S. Secretary of State

06 Jan 2025 3 5

Volodymyr Zelenskiy

Inserted 2 weeks ago

“I held a meeting of the Staff today, with a separate report from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi regarding the front. The Donetsk areas are the most intense, as well as Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Kharkiv oblasts. [We discussed] details of Kursk Oblast's developments - the North Korean military is involved in the fighting. They have many losses. A great deal. And we can see that the Russian military and the North Korean enforcers have no interest in the survival of these Koreans at all. Everything is arranged in a way that makes it impossible for us to capture the Koreans as prisoners - their own people are executing them, there are such cases. And the Russians send them into assaults with minimal protection. Today we received reports on several soldiers from North Korea, our warriors managed to capture them. But they were seriously wounded and could not be resuscitated. This is one of the manifestations of the madness dictatorships are capable of. The Korean nation should not lose its people in the battles in Europe. And this can be influenced, particularly by Korea's neighbors, especially China. If China is sincere in its statements that the war should not escalate, it must exert appropriate pressure on Pyongyang.”

Pravda

President of Ukraine

27 Dec 2024 15 10

Volodymyr Zelenskiy

Inserted 2 weeks ago

“There are risks of additional soldiers and military equipment being sent to the Russian army from North Korea, and we will have tangible responses to this. Now, according to preliminary data, the number of North Korean soldiers killed and injured in Kursk Oblast exceeds 3,000 people.”

Pravda

President of Ukraine

23 Dec 2024 7 6

Oleksandr Syrskyi

Inserted 3 weeks ago

“For the third day, the enemy has been conducting intensive offensive operations on the territory of the Kursk region, actively using units of the North Korean Army.”

Rferl

Ukraine’s commander of ground forces

17 Dec 2024 5 3

Patrick Ryder

Inserted 3 weeks ago

“We do assess that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk...we do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded.”

Rferl

Pentagon spokesperson - Military officer and United States Air Force brigadier general

16 Dec 2024 4 6

Aaron David Miller

Inserted 1 month ago

“The timing of the decision by the government of US President Joe Biden to pivot on its policy in the wake of the US election may be twofold. It may strengthen Ukraine before future talks while upping the political stakes for US President-elect Donald Trump within his own party. Clearly, if the ATACMS, which I suspect will have limited influence in the overall trajectory of the conflict, help in holding off Russian advances in the Kursk region, it would obviously prove to be beneficial. There are still a substantial number of Republicans … who believe that defending Ukraine is within the broadest conception of American national interests. Therefore Trump may choose not to undo Biden's ATACMS decision.”

Aje

Senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

20 Nov 2024 9 4

Han-bum Cho

Inserted 1 month ago

“U.S. officials have repeatedly stated that if North Korean troops join the fight, they will become legitimate targets. The primary targets of the ATACMS missiles are likely to be North Korean infantry in Russia's Kursk region, who are poorly armed. Even without the Trump factor, the war in Ukraine seems to have shifted to a phase of regional skirmishes focused on limited territorial gains, with a major expansion of the conflict looking unlikely. As the situation seems to be moving into a so-called 'control mode' with Trump's return, South Korea's rationale in providing military aid to Ukraine in response to North Korean troops could lack clarity.”

Koreatimes

Senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification

20 Nov 2024 11 5

Michael Kofman

Inserted 1 month ago

“The decision comes late, and like other decisions in this vein, it may be too late to substantially change the course of the fighting. Long-range strikes were always one piece of the puzzle, and had been overly freighted with expectations in this war. ATACMS missiles can hold at risk high value Russian and North Korean targets. This would help Ukrainian forces defend the Kursk salient, which is under pressure.”

Reuters

Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

18 Nov 2024 7 5

Ben Hodges

Inserted 1 month ago

“Such a move would send a message to the Kremlin that the [the United States] is not just folding up our tents and waiting for Trump. It would be a good thing because this policy would be in effect as the Trump administration takes over and, frankly, it's a good thing for Donald Trump. The priority for Ukraine in the use of the weapons will likely be in Russia's Kursk region, using them to strike command-and-control sites, arms depots, and artillery batteries.”

Rferl

Retired U.S. General and former Commander of NATO forces in Europe

17 Nov 2024 5 6

Oleksandr Syrskyi

Inserted 2 months ago

“Following the orders of their military leadership, they are trying to displace our troops and advance deep into the territory we control. Were it not for the resilience of our soldiers, these tens of thousands of enemies from the best Russian units would have stormed our positions.”

Rferl

Ukraine’s commander of ground forces

Read the Background

11 Nov 2024 3 2

Matthew Miller

Inserted 2 months ago

“We now assess that as many as 10,000 [North Korean troops] have made their way to Kursk and could enter combat in the coming days. We expected that it was likely that they would enter into combat against Ukrainian forces. And if they did, they would be legitimate military targets.”

En

US State Department spokesperson

04 Nov 2024 5 2

Andriy Yermak

Inserted 2 months ago

“North Korean military will die in Kursk region, because they, like the Russian army, pose a threat to Ukraine. They are present there and, of course, they will die.”

Rferl

Ukraine's presidential chief of staff

04 Nov 2024 5 3

Patrick Ryder

Inserted 2 months ago

“Indications (are) that there's already a small number (of North Korean troops) that are actually in the Kursk Oblast, with a couple thousand more that are either almost there or due to arrive imminently. The rest at this time, of course, (are) training out in the east, but (we) fully expect that they'll move in that direction at some point. We are concerned that they do intend to employ these forces in combat against Ukrainians or at least support combat operations against the Ukrainians in the Kursk region. As of right now, it remains to be seen exactly how the Russians and the North Koreans will employ these forces.”

En

Pentagon spokesperson - Military officer and United States Air Force brigadier general

29 Oct 2024 9 5

Benjamin Young

Inserted 2 months ago

“Russia owes a lot to Pyongyang and has much to give in exchange for military aid. The North Koreans can now use the Russian angle to gain high-level missile and space technology and expertise. More specifically, the North Koreans want to develop multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) payloads for their missiles. The Russians can help with that. For North Korea, the ability to gain actual battlefield experience is huge and could potentially help Pyongyang down the road in case a conflict ever breaks out on the Korean Peninsula. North Korean military personnel also have a lot to offer Russia on the battlefield. I wouldn't be surprised if North Korean pilots start operating Russian fighter jets. I also think they could help on the battlefield with technical missile expertise. Nonspecialized troops could help repel the continuing Ukrainian offensive in Kursk. Since that is technically Russian territory, the Kremlin can assert that the North Koreans are assisting with 'counterterrorism' operations and remain within the gray zone of international law. Communication and lack of battlefield testing among the North Korean soldiers' biggest shortfalls. Most of the North Koreans likely do not speak Russian and they do not have actual combat experience yet. The North Koreans will not be used to the lack of discipline and regimentation amongst Russian conscripts.”

Rferl

North Korea expert with the Rand Corporation think tank

29 Oct 2024 13 7

Kyrylo Budanov

Inserted 2 months ago

“We expect the first units [North Korean soldiers] to arrive tomorrow on the Kursk front.”

Pravda

Head of Ukraine's military intelligence service

22 Oct 2024 4 3

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#Kursk

“Ukraine's center of gravity is U.S. support. Any gains it makes inside Russia will make it harder for the new administration to call the war a lost cause. Russian gains in the vicinity of Pokrovsk are militarily significant and have political weight; Kursk is of less military importance.”

“What we are seeing now has an effect not only on the north of the Kharkiv region - on the enemy's activity along the border with the Sumy region - but also on other directions of the front.”

“Their position in Kursk is an important one because certainly it's something that would factor in any negotiation that may come about in the coming year.”

“There are risks of additional soldiers and military equipment being sent to the Russian army from North Korea, and we will have tangible responses to this. Now, according to preliminary data, the number of North Korean soldiers killed and injured in Kursk Oblast exceeds 3,000 people.”

“For the third day, the enemy has been conducting intensive offensive operations on the territory of the Kursk region, actively using units of the North Korean Army.”

“We do assess that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk...we do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded.”

“Following the orders of their military leadership, they are trying to displace our troops and advance deep into the territory we control. Were it not for the resilience of our soldiers, these tens of thousands of enemies from the best Russian units would have stormed our positions.”

“We now assess that as many as 10,000 [North Korean troops] have made their way to Kursk and could enter combat in the coming days. We expected that it was likely that they would enter into combat against Ukrainian forces. And if they did, they would be legitimate military targets.”

“North Korean military will die in Kursk region, because they, like the Russian army, pose a threat to Ukraine. They are present there and, of course, they will die.”

“We expect the first units [North Korean soldiers] to arrive tomorrow on the Kursk front.”

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