Russia prepares 3 months for surprise attack on Ukraine in Kursk

On March 21, TASS news agency quoted the commander of the battalion codenamed Morpekh of the Russian Independent Airborne Veterans Brigade as saying that the surprise attack operation called "Stream" in the town of Sudzha in Kursk province had been prepared for 3 months.

Russia claims to have retaken the town after a recent rearguard operation. Ukraine sent troops to Kursk in early August last year.

Russian soldiers patrol in Kursk in this photo released on March 14.

"(The operation) was actually prepared for three months. To understand, there was not just one exit from the pipeline, but two. The first exit was prepared for the movement of personnel to the right flank, to Sudzha and the Sumy region (Ukraine). The second exit was intended for the movement to the left flank, to bridges and industrial zones," Morpekh said.

About 500 Russian troops moved through the pipeline towards Sudzha. The pipeline exits on the right and left flanks were deliberately created to efficiently distribute personnel into positions, the commander said.

Ukrainian army withdraws from Kursk: 'Operation failed, everything is over'

"We cannot let too many troops come out of just one exit of the pipeline. If we try to do so, we will suffer heavy losses because the soldiers will come out of the pipeline very slowly," the commander explained.

During the "Stream" operation, soldiers of the Russian joint strike force moved about 15 km inside the pipeline and suddenly appeared behind the defenses of the Ukrainian army near Sudzha.

Russian servicemen inspect a bunker that once belonged to Ukrainian forces in the village of Kazachya Loknya in Sudzha on March 18.

On March 12, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, First Deputy Defense Minister Valery Gerasimov said that more than 600 soldiers took part in the operation to move through the abandoned gas pipeline. He said that soldiers from many units had made achievements in this operation.

General Gerasimov stressed that the "heroic actions of the combined strike force" surprised the enemy, helped weaken Kyiv's defenses and develop the offensive operations of the Russian army in the Kursk region.

Also on March 21, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of blowing up a large gas station near Sudzha during their retreat from Kursk. The facility was used by Russia’s Gazprom to export gas to Europe via Ukraine. The Ukrainian military denied the accusations on the same day, saying Russia had shelled the facility in an attempt to blame Kyiv.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nga-chuan-bi-3-thang-cho-chien-dich-danh-up-ukraine-tai-kursk-185250322103203498.htm