The Daily Populous Monday September 16th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by forbes.com and submitted by TopRevenue2

A Ukrainian bomb strikes a Russian position in Vesoloe. Khorne Group catpure

On Thursday, Ukrainian combat engineers breached Russian defenses along the border near the village of Novyi Put, around 20 miles west of the 400-square-mile Ukrainian salient in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.

What at first appeared to be a brief and shallow Ukrainian assault in fact developed into something far more dangerous to Russian control over Kursk. Ukrainian armored trucks swiftly advanced several miles past Novyi Put toward the nearest town, Vesoloe. Now the Ukrainian force “has reached the southern outskirts of Vesoloe and has practically taken control of it,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies reported.

No later than Saturday, Ukrainian tanks rolled into Vesoloe. And on Sunday, a Ukrainian air force fighter-bomber lobbed a satellite-guided glide bomb—reportedly a U.S.-made Joint Direct Attack Munition—at a purported Russian position in a building in central Vesoloe, flattening the building while a drone from the Ukrainian Khorne Group watched from overhead. “We are observing all of you,” the group quipped on social media.

The Russian garrison around Vesoloe reportedly includes a large number of poorly-trained young conscripts, who were drafted for just a year of military service and, according to Kremlin policy, aren’t supposed to see combat.

The Russian northern grouping of forces’ heavy reliance on conscripts for the initial defense against the main Ukrainian thrust in Kursk starting in August is one reason the Ukrainians managed to advance so quickly along that axis. It’s an ominous sign for the Russians that their defensive efforts in Vesoloe apparently also depend on unprepared young men in their teens and early 20s.

If the Russians react to the Ukrainian attack on Vesoloe last week the same way they reacted to the wider Ukrainian invasion of Kursk last month, they may eventually redeploy some better-trained airborne forces to blunt the Ukrainian advance. The Khorne Group shrugged off this possibility. “Bring us more conscripts and paratroopers,” it taunted.

Aside from the Khorne Group, it’s unclear which Ukrainian units are involved in the fight for Vesoloe. It’s worth noting, however, that the Khorne Group’s videos of the Thursday breach seem to depict Turkish-made Kirpi armored trucks, which are popular with the Ukrainian marine corps. The 36th Marine Brigade is part of the main fight farther east in Kursk, so it’s possible the brigade is also behind the Vesoloe incursion.

Whichever brigade or brigades they’re facing in Vesoloe, the Russians are worried. Their local garrison reportedly includes a lot of young conscripts. By contrast, the invading Ukrainians appear to be battle-hardened volunteers backed by tanks, drones and warplanes. “Our contacts assess the situation as serious,” one Russian blogger noted.

Loki-L on September 16th, 2024 at 06:16 UTC »

It sounds like this is in the part of Russia that has previously been cut of by the other incursion and is only reachable through Ukrainian held territory or by crossing a river.

Since Russia can't resupply what troops they have still there, I guess the goal now is to conquer all of the region south of the river.

Once that is done the fortifying and holding a new permanent front along the river should require a lot fewer troops and resources than what they had before.

Murandus on September 16th, 2024 at 05:16 UTC »

Everytime i see 'khorne group' it feels so weird. What a timeline.

pteryxarchio on September 16th, 2024 at 04:34 UTC »

> The town of Vesoloe is the locus of this new invasion.

Saved you a click.