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Ukraine’s operation in the Kursk region illustrates how Ukrainian forces can use maneuver warfare to offset Russia’s superiority in manpower and equipment, ISW reported.
Russian troops occupied a total of 1,175 square kilometers of territory in the entire theater of operations in the seven months from January to July this year. During Ukraine’s operation in the Kursk region, the military advanced approximately 800 square kilometers over six days from August 6 to 12, and advanced approximately 28 kilometers as of August 17.
Military analysts emphasized that the size of the territory captured by Ukrainian forces is not an indicator of the success of this operation. But maneuver can lead to a much faster advance than positional warfare.
At the start of Ukraine’s operation in Kursk Oblast, the military attacked mostly unprepared, underequipped and deserted Russian defensive positions along the border, but Ukraine continued to use rapid advance maneuvers in Kursk Oblast after Russian reinforcements were deployed in the area.
Ukraine’s use of maneuver in the Kursk region serves as an example of how Ukrainian maneuver combined with operational surprise can lead to the achievement of objectives in significantly shorter periods of time with less manpower and equipment.
A protracted positional war, on the contrary, will only increase Ukraine’s resource deficiencies, and a protracted war will increase costs for Ukraine and its partners.
The problem of restoring operational maneuver in the war remains a central issue for both sides at the operational level of the war, and Ukraine’s ability to achieve rapid maneuver in the Kursk region shows that Ukrainian forces have learned lessons from the positional warfare of the past months, which may help Ukraine use maneuver warfare in the future.
