Commander Syrskyi on Russia’s Advance in Pokrovsk and Kursk Operation Details

Russian troops have not advanced at all in the Pokrovsk direction in the last six days, despite Ukraine being under considerable pressure, said Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, in his interview with CNN.

While acknowledging the intense pressure on Ukraine around Pokrovsk, the area that has been at the center of war in eastern Ukraine for weeks, Syrskyi stated that his troops have succeeded in halting the Russian advances in the strategic city.

“Over the last six days, the enemy hasn’t advanced a single meter in the Pokrovsk direction. In other words, our strategy is working,” he said.

Syrskyi emphasized that the Ukrainian forces deprived the Russian forces of the opportunity to maneuver and deploy their reinforcements from other directions.

“We’ve taken away their ability to maneuver and to deploy their reinforcement forces from other directions… and this weakening has definitely been felt in other areas. We note the amount of artillery shelling as well as the intensity of the offensive have decreased,” he said.

Kursk operation

Syrskyi stated in the interview that Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region was successful. It reduced the threat of a Russian offensive and prevented them from acting.

“It reduced the threat of an enemy offensive. We prevented them from acting. We moved the fighting to the enemy’s territory so that [Russia] could feel what we feel every day,” Syrskyi said.

Syrskyi detailed the main goals of the operation: 

• to prevent Russia from using Kursk as a base for a new offensive, 

• to redirect Moscow’s forces from other fronts, 

• to establish a security zone and halt cross-border shelling of civilian areas, 

• to capture prisoners of war, 

• to uplift the morale of Ukrainian troops and the nation.

He noted that Moscow had deployed tens of thousands of troops to Kursk, including some of its elite airborne assault units.

Additional key points from Syrskyi’s interview: 

• Russia has an advantage in aviation, missiles, artillery, the amount of ammunition, personnel, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. This forced Ukraine to become smarter and more effective in its fighting.

“We cannot fight in the same way as they do, so we must use, first of all, the most effective approach, use our forces and means with maximum use of terrain features, engineering structures and also, to use technical superiority,” he said.

• The extended delays in the delivery of US military aid have led to severe ammunition shortages.

• Syrskyi admitted the troops heading to the battlefield are receiving less training than he’d like them to.

“Of course, everyone wants the level of training to be the best, so we train highly qualified professional military personnel,” he said. “At the same time, the dynamics at the front require us to put conscripted servicemen into service as soon as possible.”