According to a new report from ISW, analysts highlighted a report from the Ukrainian agency RBC-Ukraine indicating that Russian authorities likely aim to expel the AFU from Kursk Oblast by mid-October 2024 and create a “buffer zone” in the border areas of Ukraine along the international border with the Russian Federation in northeastern Ukraine by

The number of Russian troops pulled over to Kursk Oblast, announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky in early September, was higher — 60,000.

The village is 20 miles west of the main Ukrainian salient in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Six weeks ago, a powerful Ukrainian force—around a dozen battalions from eight or so experienced brigades—invaded Kursk and quickly gained control of 400 square miles of Russian soil.