Ukraine’s military boss said the incursion by Kyiv’s army into Russian territory has impacted Russia’s attempts to capture the strategically important city of Pokrovsk.
One of the goals of the Kursk offensive has been to try and slow down Russia’s advance on Pokrovsk, by forcing the Kremlin to redeploy troops from its eastern front.
The city is a major transport and logistics hub for Kyiv’s army in the Donetsk region.
Recent reports suggest that Putin’s army is within 3 miles of the city, as it seeks to make a major breakthrough in the war.
Some military analysts fear its capture could lead to the collapse of Ukraine’s entire eastern front.
Vladimir Putin told an audience at an economic forum in Vladivostok on Thursday that his main goal was to capture the entire Donbas region.
He claimed the Kursk incursion had weakened Ukraine’s army in the east by diverting experienced troops away from the Donetsk front, which had helped Russia’s army to make faster gains in the Donbas.
However, General Syrskyi dismissed Putin’s claims in an interview with CNN on Thursday.
Issuing a four-word verdict on the Russian President’s remarks, he said: “Our strategy is working.” He continued: “Over the last six days the enemy hasn’t advanced a single metre in the Pokrovsk direction.
“We’ve taken away their ability to manoeuvre 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 also claimed Russia had been planning to launch a new attack on Ukraine from the Kursk region before Kyiv’s attack.
Syrskyi has previously claimed the Kremlin had redeployed 30,000 of its troops from its frontlines in Ukraine to the Kursk region.
Analysts at the US think tank the Institute for the Study of War estimate Russia will need 60,000 troops to repel Ukraine’s army from Kursk.
Zelensky’s army stunned the Kremlin after launching a daring raid into the Kursk region in the first week of August.
Ukraine’s army smashed through Russian defences as it executed a classic surprise attack using combined arms manoeuvres.
Syrskyi claims his forces have captured some 500 square miles of Russian territory along with 100 settlements.
