Nearly 21,000 Russian Casualties in Kursk Operation, Says Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief

During almost 3 months of the Kursk incursion operation, as of November 5, 2024 the losses of Russia in the Kursk direction amounted to almost 21,000 personnel.

This was stated by Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on November 6.

“As of November 5, 2024, nearly three months into the operation, enemy losses in the Kursk direction amount to 20,842 personnel, including 7,905 killed, 12,220 wounded, and 717 taken prisoner,” Syrskyi wrote. “During the same period, 1,101 units of enemy weaponry and military equipment were destroyed. These include 54 tanks, 276 armored combat vehicles, 107 artillery pieces and mortars, 5 multiple rocket launchers, and 659 vehicles.”

Ukraine initiated its cross-border incursion in early August to disrupt Russian strikes across the border and as a preemptive operation to divert Russian forces to the Kursk region.

“In May of this year, intelligence confirmed the enemy's plan to launch an offensive in the Sumy direction from Russia’s Kursk region to establish a so-called ‘buffer zone’ in northern Ukraine,”  Syrskyi stated. “This was intended as a continuation of the Russian operation in the Kharkiv direction. Therefore, a decision was made to conduct a preemptive offensive operation, shifting combat actions onto enemy territory in the Kursk region.”

Ukraine officially announced carrying out an operation in the Kursk region on August 12 and successfully created a buffer zone within Russian territory as a result of this military operation.