Russian general condemns failures in Kursk region defence strategy
State Duma deputy and military commander Gen. Andrey Gurulyov was outraged by the way the Russian army approached defending the Kursk region. He stated that the military must have known about the impending Ukrainian attack but admitted that in Russia, "no one likes the truth in reports."
On August 6, the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked the Kursk region. Although initially, the Russians claimed there were minor skirmishes on the border, it quickly became clear that the operation was extensive. The Ukrainians took over dozens of villages, and the Russian authorities were forced to evacuate over 100,000 people.
General Andrey Gurulyov, a State Duma's Defence Committee member, criticised Russia's approach to the Kursk region's defence. He wrote on Telegram that his wife is from those regions, so he had to evacuate her family there.
The military commander admitted that he saw how minefields were set up in the region, which "without fire cover had no effect."
"Who planned this? Who came up with this? This is a serious matter," he wrote.
"No one likes the truth"
"You can't plan such serious operations without our knowledge. I don't think they were unaware of the enemy's troop concentration," emphasised Guruliov.
"If you have preliminary data on the enemy, then you probably need to think about what will happen. Unfortunately, the group covering the state border lacked its own reconnaissance capabilities. They were equipped with everything necessary only as a last resort," he wrote.
He also criticised the flow of information in the military. "No one here likes the truth in reports. Everyone wants to hear that everything is fine," he wrote.
The deputy believes it is necessary to "review all issued directives, combat orders, and reports." He admitted that it might turn out that there are no such documents. "No one wants to sign documents or take personal responsibility," he wrote.
Former military officer: command assured everything was under control
Similar claims come from an interview that the portal "Important Stories" conducted with a former commander of the Russian reconnaissance group, who served in the army for ten years and participated in the invasion of Ukraine but refused to continue fighting. The soldier, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that the Ukrainians had been conducting surveillance of border areas for six months, organising "raids" in this process, like the famous March attack by Russian legions loyal to Ukraine in the Belgorod region.
- They conducted reconnaissance, made a map of the area, and checked the forces. Did anything change on our side in six months? No way, he describes.
- For those on the front line, this breakthrough was not a surprise at all. They had long known that something like this would start sooner or later; the question was when. In response to all requests to the command, they were told as usual: "We have everything under control, intelligence reports nothing has been noticed," the military officer says.
Let us recall that the Telegram channel "WCzK-OGPU" reported that the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov received information about the impending attack from one of the generals; however, the commander accused him of "panicking" and assured that it was necessary "not to be fooled by enemy disinformation."
