The Daily Populous Monday February 17th, 2025 day edition
Authored by forbes.com and submitted by eaglemaxie

Confidently rolling toward Ukrainian lines in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast in up-armored vehicles brazenly flying the flag of the defunct Soviet Union, an assault group from the Russian 155th Naval Infantry Brigade paraded right into a minefield laid by the Ukrainian 47th Mechanized Brigade.

The results were predictable—and emblematic of Russia’s faltering counteroffensive in Kursk. The counteroffensive ramped up in early November, three months after a strong Ukrainian force invaded Kursk and carved what is now a 250-square-mile salient from the oblast.

“The Russians again went on an assault in Kursk against the 47th Brigade and its auxiliaries,” the brigade reported. “In a column of more than a dozen tanks and about a company of enemies”—around 100 troops—“they threw the ‘elite’ Russian 155th Marine Brigade with the flags of ‘victory’ into the assault.”

Mines blew up some of the Russian vehicles. Drones struck others and also hounded the dismounted infantry. One shell-shocked Russian crewman bailed out of his damaged vehicle, trudged a few steps through the snow, fell flat onto his back—and then exploded as a drone slammed into him.

“We are extinguishing all the enemy’s attempts to advance in Kursk,” the 47th Mechanized Brigade crowed.

It’s not for no reason Ukrainian forces take such glee in killing 155th Naval Infantry Brigade marines. On Oct. 13, the Russian brigade captured, stripped and executed nine Ukrainian drone operators in Kursk—a war crime that signaled escalating Russian brutality as the wider war on Ukraine ground toward its fourth year.

The 47th Mechanized Brigade has defeated at least two major Russian and North Korean assaults this month. The brigade held the line along the western edge of the salient while Ukrainian paratroopers countercounterattacked on the eastern edge on Feb. 5, quickly advancing several miles. For the first time in months, the Ukrainian salient is getting bigger, not smaller.

The salient is a bargaining chip. Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed last week that his forces invaded Kursk in August in order to seize Russian territory Kyiv could eventually trade for Ukrainian territory the Russians occupy. “We are [ex]changing one territory for another,” Zelensky said.

But it’s not clear the Ukrainians can get favorable terms as U.S. Pres. Donald Trump impulsively takes control of possible negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

Any ceasefire could be fragile and brief without continuing U.S. support for Ukrainian forces, including the mostly U.S.-equipped 47th Mechanized Brigade. But Trump has demanded Zelensky give the United States half of Ukraine’s $500-billion reserves of rare earth minerals as payment for past U.S. aid—and as a precondition for future aid.

Caught between Russian invaders and American extortionists, Zelensky is walking a very fine line. He has so far avoided signing the minerals deal, but hasn’t ruled out some kind of U.S.-Ukrainian economic exchange as part of a wider security agreement. Any deal “still needs work to ensure Ukraine’s interests are safeguarded,” Zelensky said.

“Zelensky has handled negotiations very well so far,” concluded Tatarigami, the founder of the Ukrainian Frontelligence Insight Group. “Despite indirect extortion, he hasn’t caved.”

And on the snow-covered, blood-spattered fields in Kursk, the 47th Mechanized Brigade is buying Zelensky more time for diplomacy—and holding onto the best bargaining chip Ukraine has: hundreds of square miles of Russian soil.

AlexDub12 on February 16th, 2025 at 23:42 UTC »

Zerg rush IRL.

darkrood on February 16th, 2025 at 23:41 UTC »

RIP, drone

Thank you for your service to Ukraine 🇺🇦

mymadrant on February 16th, 2025 at 23:27 UTC »

The very same Russian unit that stripped and shot a group of Ukrainian drone operators. No mercy.