The Battle of David and Goliath: The Armed Forces soldiers were not warned that they were going to capture the Kursk region - The Guardian

"At first, everything was in the fog and only then, when we left, realized where we have just visited and what they did," said Artem, one of the three Ukrainian soldiers who spoke with journalists a few hours after leaving the Russian territory. According to one Western diplomat who was in Kiev, in the last few weeks, the operation in the Kursk region has significantly raised the mood of the Ukrainian political elite.

"They are involved in the fierce battle like David against Goliaf, and this refers to their rebellious spirit," said a representative of one of the countries of the West. The planned operation was known to be very few, President Vladimir Zelenoy and the top teams. The adviser to the head of the OP Mikhail Podlyak reported that, judging by the experience of this war, that less people know about military plans, it is better.

The locals in Sumy, the nearest city to the Ukrainian border, and neighboring areas noted the emergence of the Armed Forces personnel a few weeks before the start of the operation, but did not understand what they were doing there. "In Sumy, a few housing for shooting, people were looking for free apartments where soldiers could stop. And only later, when the operation began, the puzzle formed," said Dmitry Tishchenko, head of the local news portal.

They did not warn the operations of the military themselves. "We thought we were being relocated to protect the border from a possible Russian invasion," said one of the soldiers who was in the Sumy region a few weeks before the invasion of Kursk. In Sudzhi, Ukrainian soldiers say, most streets are empty, smells of rotten products in the blazing sun in the air.

Many residents of the five -year -old city left during the onset of the offensive, those who are left, now cut off, cannot leave, without electricity and mobile communications. Ukrainian patrols who patrol the streets are their only source of information. Soldiers return from Sudzhi with trophies: Russian flags, posters taken from official buildings, T -shirts depicting Vladimir Putin.

But they say that they do not expose people on the same terror as Russian invaders have subjected to residents of Ukrainian cities. Sudzha remains under the control of Ukraine, but Russian drones are a constant threat. In one of the cases during the cleaning of the Russian trench, Artem seemed that he saw a Russian -run Russian soldier. He was going to shoot him, but immediately realized that someone had left the mirror and he was looking at his reflection.

"You will crawl in the dark and realize that it is absolutely one just in the enemy territory," said Sergei, another military from the unit. Representatives of Ukraine say that they are not interested in the annexation of Russian lands, but still want to maintain control. "We are not Russia, we do not want to rewrite our constitution and add these territories.

Our tasks are to reject Russian artillery and other systems further, to destroy warehouses with weapons and other military infrastructure, which is there, but also influence public opinion in Russia" , - said Podolyak. Recall that, according to Forbes analysts, hundreds of military people near Pokrovsk can get into the environment. But at the same time in the fall, the front can be leveled.