LB.ua: Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky tells the details of the Russian offensive on the Sumy region and the Kursk operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Hereʼs what it looks like on maps

In an interview with LB.ua, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky confirmed: Russia has already launched an offensive against the Sumy region, as well as the Kharkiv region. Despite numerous negotiations, the enemy is not stopping — on the contrary, he has intensified hostilities, seeking to create a buffer zone on the territory of the Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions. In addition, in the fall, Russian troops will hold exercises in Belarus, the purpose of which, according to Oleksandr Syrsky, may be to create a group for a new offensive. Here are his main theses — about the Russian offensive in the Sumy region, the beginning of the Kursk operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and some details of the counteroffensive in 2023.

Oleksandr Syrsky talks about how the idea of the Kursk operation came about

Since the spring of 2024, the Russian command has been preparing a major offensive — they planned to capture Kharkiv and the Sumy region. The General Staff had information that the attack would begin in May. Oleksandr Syrsky reported this to the president and transferred brigades from the training grounds to the border.

The basis of the Russian strike group was to be the recently created 44th Army Corps, numbering up to 160 thousand people. But when the Ukrainian troops advanced to the state border, they forced the enemy to act in advance: in early May, he threw into battle the forces that had already been deployed. These are about 46 thousand people in the Belgorod area and 23-26 thousand in the Sumy direction.

The offensive was unsuccessful: in the Kharkiv region, the enemy got bogged down in battles for Vovchansk, advanced only 9 km in the Liptsy area, after which it was thrown back 2 km. The Russians suffered significant losses, transferred forces from the Sumy direction and lost the initiative there. At the same time, the Russian Federation launched a strategic offensive along almost the entire front line. It attacked Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, Kupyansk, Lyman, Zaporizhzhia.

Then the Ukrainian command had the idea to launch a counteroffensive precisely where the enemy had weakened its defenses, that is, in the Sumy direction. There, he had only the troops covering the border and some rear units left. Therefore, on August 6, the Kursk operation began.

Oleksandr Syrsky talks about the 2023 counteroffensive

In 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a counteroffensive south of Bakhmut. According to the widespread version of events, the Ukrainian command changed the initial plan of the operation: it redeployed forces from the southern direction to the eastern. However, Oleksandr Syrsky, who commanded the eastern direction of the counteroffensive, refutes this version.

According to Oleksandr Syrsky, only two Ukrainian brigades participated in the fighting in the Bakhmut direction — and that was not enough. He lacked personnel, and therefore he could not liberate Bakhmut and Soledar. During the planning of the operation, the military leadership understood: there were not enough forces, ammunition was limited and there would be no supplies. The Ukrainian command believed only that the enemy had not had time to consolidate in this region, as, for example, in the Zaporizhzhia direction.

The aim of the operation was to cut three key enemy logistical routes:

• the road between Bakhmut and Horlivka;
• the road between Bakhmut and Debaltseve — the main artery through which the Russian command supplied groups numbering up to 20,000 people;
• the road to Popasna.

If these routes could be cut, the Armed Forces of Ukraine would force the enemy to retreat in order to avoid being surrounded. However, the plan failed to materialize.

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