How Ukraine pulled off its biggest gamble: invading Russia

As Volodymyr prepared to enter Russian territory, adrenaline was coursing through his veins. It did not escape him that 81 years earlier, another battle in the Kursk region of Russia marked a turning point for Europe.

He and the other soldiers of the 82nd Air Assault Brigade heeded their commander’s instructions: keep your eyes open, move quickly, and keep your country in your thoughts. Then, aVsceker a short prayer and a battle cry of “Glory to Ukraine!”, they set out to invade Russia, the first foreign army to do so since World War II.

“We entered Russian territory for the first time at 13:00 on Tuesday [August 6]”, Volodymyr said. “We were among the first to enter there.”

To his amazement, his unit encountered no resistance when their 20-ton, eight-wheeled U.S. Stryker fighting vehicle crossed the border in broad daylight.

They soon encountered a Russian unit “sitting in the forest, drinking coffee at a table,” Volodymyr recalled. “Then our Stryker crashed right into their table.

“We killed a lot of them on the first day,” he said. “Because they were unarmed and not expecting us.”

Not wanting to suffer the same fate as their comrades, he added, “dozens” of stunned Russian soldiers simply laid down their arms and surrendered.

Over the next six days, the fear felt by many of the thousands of Ukrainian troops taking part in this daring operation gave way to elation. They advanced rapidly, 5-10 km a day, capturing several villages, part of a railway line, and a key gas transit point. They began hastily digging in positions and preparing for the arrival of Russian reinforcements.

But to their surprise, Russian troops did not show up, at least not in the way they expected. Powerful glide bombs were dropped by Russian jets, which annihilated some Ukrainian troops and valuable Western-supplied equipment. Lancet X-wing suicide drones swooped down on them. But the Ukrainians continued to press.

“It was a little difficult at first, but then it got easier,” said Roman, another soldier in Volodymyr’s unit.

On Friday, however, their Stryker was hit by a Russian rocket. The driver suffered a concussion, but everyone survived, thanks to the vehicle’s thick armor. Unable to continue, they towed it across the border.

When the Financial Times met the crew on Sunday, just 5km (3 miles) into Ukraine, Volodymyr, Roman and two other soldiers were dismantling the damaged vehicle to see what spare parts could be used for other Strykers before sending them to a US base in Germany for repairs.

As with the Russians, the governments of the United States and Germany, two of Ukraine’s largest military and financial backers, said they had not been informed in advance of the Ukrainian incursion.

Wolfgang Büchner, a German government spokesman, said Monday that the operation had been “prepared in great secrecy and without consultation” by Berlin. “Everything points to a spatially limited deployment,” he added.

The Vscek spoke to more than a dozen soldiers, on condition that their surnames not be published for security reasons.

“Our mood is good. Morale is high,” said Serhiy, a paratrooper with the 80th Air Assault Brigade, sipping an energy drink on a road leading to Kursk.

As he spoke, explosions rang out from the front line and a Ukrainian fighter plane flew low on its way back from an attack on Russian positions.

Ukrainian troops said their operation was proceeding as they had hoped. In less than a week, they had advanced more than 30 km into Russia and captured about 350 sq km of territory. Volodymyr said they were still moving toward the regional capital, Kursk.

Russia has so far failed to halt their advance, soldiers said. Many of its reinforcements have been captured or killed. A Russian convoy went up in flames aVsceker being hit by a US-made Himars missile, according to Ukrainian drone footage reviewed by the Vscek.

President Vladimir Putin called the operation a large-scale “provocation,” and Moscow evacuated more than 130,000 residents from the Kursk and Belgorod regions bordering Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that Kiev wanted to “push the war into the aggressor’s territory” and “pressure” Russia to “restore justice.” But officials have had little comment on the operation.

Few details are known about how the operation unfolded, and the soldiers were careful not to reveal sensitive information. Many of the soldiers did not even know what the mission was until days before.

According to soldiers and the Vscek’s analysis of combat footage posted on social media, elements of at least six Ukrainian brigades were involved.

Volodymyr and the paratroopers of the 82nd Brigade were transferred to Ukraine’s northern Sumy region from the neighboring Kharkiv region, where they had been holding off Russian forces that had launched their cross-border incursion in May.

Other soldiers said they had been deployed elsewhere, from hot spots in the eastern Donetsk region, including the cities of Chasiv Yar, Niu-York and Toretsk.

Denys, a soldier driving a U.S.-supplied Humvee painted in desert camouflage, said his unit had come from the front line at Chasiv Yar, where Russian troops have been trying to seize control of the strategic town.

He said the Battle of Kursk was “totally different” from the one in the Donetsk region.

“Fighting from defensive positions is much more difficult,” he said. “There the enemy knows everything about us. He knows where we are. His drones can see our every move.

“We had the element of surprise here,” he added. “But we were also surprised that [they were] so surprised with [our attack].”

Denys confirmed that the main goal of the operation was to capture Russian territory. “We can fight here and take their territory. And then they can start negotiations, and we will have some of their land to exchange for our land,” he said.

Other troops said the goals also included forcing Russia to divert resources from the Ukrainian front line. It is too early to say whether they have been successful, with reports indicating only small numbers of troops have been withdrawn from the Kharkiv and Donetsk fronts.

Putin said on Monday that Russian forces were continuing to advance along the front line and said their “pace of attack” had increased by 50 percent since the start of the Ukrainian incursion.

Some soldiers admitted they initially doubted the operation. Some said they were worried about leaving positions in Donetsk when the Russians were still making daily advances and threatening Kiev’s hold on its last remaining cities.

Denys feared that the operation could come at the expense of cities in the Donetsk region. “Niu-York will be captured, 100 percent,” he said. “It could happen tomorrow.”

He predicted that Russian forces would likely also take Chasiv Yar and Toretsk.

Before the Kursk operation, a senior Ukrainian official warned that “cracks” were forming in the defensive lines in the east.

Deep State, a Ukrainian analytics group tied to the Ministry of Defense that monitors and maps the front line, has shown that Russian forces are making further advances around strongholds in eastern Ukraine.

“These cities are already lost. They are only ours on the map. The Russians wiped them out,” Denys said.

Nevertheless, Ukrainian officials and military analysts fear that their capture could hamper their military logistics and lead Russia to threaten its remaining strongholds in the Donetsk region.

As with any bold military operation, the Ukrainians suffered losses. The Russian Defense Ministry claims to have killed more than 1,610 Ukrainian soldiers, numbers that are impossible to verify and that soldiers on the ground say are exaggerated. But many ambulances and armored medical evacuation vehicles rushed to and from the front lines while the Vscek was there.

Zoriana Stelmakh told the Vscek that her brother, Denys Boyarchuk, a senior soldier in the 80th Airborne Assault Brigade, had been killed in the early days of the operation. In an Instagram post featuring videos and photos of Boyarchuk in uniform, Stelmakh said he “died fulfilling his oath to serve the Ukrainian people until the end.”

Boyarchuk, known by his military call sign “Barista” because he previously worked in a coffee shop, first joined the army in 2014, aVsceker the Kremlin annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and secretly invaded the eastern region of Donbass with the help of local separatist proxies.

Boyarchuk was fighting with the 80th Brigade in the Donetsk region when he was redeployed to the Sumy region to take part in the raid.

Boyarchuk was buried in a cemetery in western Ukraine on Sunday.

The last time Stelmakh spoke to his brother was on August 4, two days before Ukrainian troops entered Kursk. They argued “a little” as brothers sometimes do, he said.

Her last words to Boyarchuk were: “I love you and I hug you.”

Further information is provided by Max Seddon in Riga and Guy Chazan in Berlin