Afrasianet - Pro-Russian authorities in Kharkiv province revealed that the Ukrainian army transported 500 foreign mercenaries from Kharkov towards Kursk ahead of the attack, and that a former French officer was involved in planning the attack.
The deputy head of the Kharkov Civilian Military Administration for Defense and Security Affairs, Yevgeny Lesniak, explained in press statements that the officer is Kurte Frank-Michel Michael, a former major in the eighth paratrooper regiment of the French Land Forces, and "is currently a member of the Foreign Corps and involved in committing war crimes in the Kharkov province."
Lesnyak added that before Ukraine's attack on Kursk on August 6, a total of more than 500 mercenaries, mostly of French nationality, were transferred from the Kharkov axis towards Kursk.
He reportedly included the mercenaries in groups in the strength of the separate eighth regiment of Ukrainian special operations forces and a special unit of the General Intelligence Department of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence.
"In August 2024, before the assault of Ukrainian forces on the territory of the Kursk region, the Ukrainian military leadership decided to distribute mercenaries in the ranks of separate units of the Ukrainian army, in order to avoid foreign fighters in large groups falling into Russian captivity in the event of the failure of the attack," he said.
The official added that the civilian military administration in Kharkov was able to identify the names of three other French mercenaries - in addition to Major Mikael - involved in crimes against civilians in the Kharkov and Kursk provinces: Jean-Baptiste Besson, Sidney Pallister and Jonathan Buderlik.
Lavrov: Foreign military units including mercenaries participated in the attack on Kursk
In the context , Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed the participation of military formations that include foreign mercenaries and regular military personnel in the attack on the Kursk region, pointing to the monitoring of foreign language talks in that region.
Lavrov said in an interview with the "Newsmaker" program of the project "Bridges to the East" on RT : "As for what was the goal of those who organized the provocation in the Kursk region, and the incursion carried out by Nazi units with a large number of mercenaries, perhaps not only mercenaries, but also foreign regular soldiers, a foreign language talk has already been detected there."
"It's hard for me to judge what the intention was in this case, because our Western colleagues sometimes twist things in their own way."
The commander of a unit of the Russian forces of "Ahmed" announced last week that his elements clashed several times in the Kursk province with mercenaries who spoke German and Polish, stressing that they had been eliminated.
The Russian military commander said: "Here we encountered foreign mercenaries, they were Germans and Poles. When we engaged them in battle, we understood from their conversations that they were foreigners, and they were not among those we captured, which means they were liquidated."
It confirmed the testimonies of residents of the Kursk province about the participation of foreign mercenaries in the attack by Kiev forces on villages and towns in the province and the identification of nationalities of some of them from their languages, including French and Polish.
Earlier, the Instagram account of three men in uniform, carrying weapons and hanging blue badges on their uniforms with an armored vehicle behind them, appeared on the Instagram account of three men in uniforms.
"Men in Kursk (in Kursk province)," she captioned the photo, and indeed GPS data indicates that the post was published from Kursk province .
Washington Post: Russian forces' approach to Pokrovsk dashed Kiev's hopes for Kursk offensive
Under this headline David Stern wrote an article about Kiev's hopes of a Ukrainian offensive on the Kursk region dampening pressure on the Eastern Front as Russian forces approached Pokrovsk.
The article published on the Washington Post website stated:
Russia is approaching one of the eastern cities despite Ukraine's "successes" elsewhere, while Ukrainian hopes that an incursion into the Kursk region will ease pressure on the eastern front have not been realized, as Moscow forces approach the city of Pokrovsk.
Kiev's announced successes in its two-week incursion into Russia have not stopped Moscow's continued push for troops into the eastern part of Ukraine, threatening a key logistics hub.
Officials in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk say they are evacuating residents in anticipation of its fall in the face of Russian advances, which are now less than 10 kilometers from the city limits. If this city falls, it will be the largest Russian-controlled population center since Artyumov (Ukrainian Pakhmut) in May 2023.
The head of information policy in the military administration of Pokrovsk, Yekaterina Yanzola, said by phone that Russian forces "are moving towards the outskirts of the city, and it is no longer a secret that the fate of the city has become unclear." "Maybe the situation will change in some way, and we hope that the enemy will stop somewhere on the roads to Pokrovsk, and that our forces will repel him."
Vadim Velashkin, head of the Donetsk district administration, said authorities had begun forced evacuations of families with children from Pokrovsk, adding that about 4,000 children were still in the city.
Vilashkin wrote on Facebook: "The safety of children is the responsibility of adults. When our cities are in the crosshairs of any enemy weapon, the decision to evacuate is necessary and inevitable."
Despite the growing threat, a large proportion of the city's population is resisting evacuation efforts, Yanzola said. Officials are forced to "go to people's homes, talk directly to every family, with each inhabitant in person, gather the older residents, and inform them of the need to evacuate the city," she said, adding that the population of the area, which reached about 86,000 people before the start of the military operation, has become 53,000, adding: "It's a difficult process because it's hard to convince residents to leave their homeland of origin and go somewhere unknown, but we're doing our best."
On Monday, the commander of Ukrainian forces, Alexander Sersky, confirmed that "heavy fighting" was taking place around Pokrovsk. The general posted on Facebook that Russian troops had tried to storm Ukrainian positions 45 times in the past 24 hours.
Sersky also said Kiev forces were "doing everything necessary" to protect the city of Toritsk, about 64 km east of Pokrovsk, where Ukrainians were also under heavy pressure.
Maps available to users show Russian forces approaching the villages of Grudevka, Krasny Yar and Novogrodevka, east of Pokrovsk, which could indicate that an imminent Russian breakthrough is on the way, experts say.
Franz Stefan Gadi, a military analyst at the Vienna-based Center for a New American Security, said: "There is a number of evidence that the Russians are already fighting on the last significant line of defense outside the city of Pokrovsk."
The loss of Pokrovsk, the logistics hub at the intersection of two major roads in eastern Ukraine, would open the door to further advances by Russia in this eastern industrial zone that has long been the focus of the Russian forces' offensive.
But even as Russian forces advanced in the east, outgoing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had "achieved their goals" in Russia's western Kursk region, hundreds of kilometers to the north, where Kiev forces launched a bold incursion almost two weeks ago.
While congratulating the troops on their efforts, Zelenskiy told the United States, Britain and France that "there is a need to accelerate supplies from our partners. We strongly demand that. There are no leave in war."
Analysts said Russia's steady progress pointed to a potential weakness in Kiev's strategy, as its hopes of limiting Russian gains in the east have yet to materialize.
Military analyst Gadi, referring to the rust belt in eastern Ukraine where Pokrovsk and Toritsk are located, said: "The picture in Donbass looks rather worrying to me." Russia still far outperforms Ukrainian forces in terms of manpower and firepower there. The bigger question, according to Ghadi, remains: "What kind of reserves are now unavailable" in Pokrovsk, which would otherwise be available in Kursk?
"War is always about making choices. The question is: Was this the right choice to send troops to Russia to expand the front line, or was it better to keep reserves or stabilize the front line in the Donbass?".
Ukrainian soldiers in the Pokrovsk region say that the incursion into Kursk has not changed the Russian offensive, on the contrary, pressure has increased in recent days.
A spokesman for the 110th Mechanized Brigade, Ivan Sikash, which is located about 16 kilometers from Pokrovsk, said: "The enemy will not abandon this direction in his attack, for him it remains a priority." And the last thing they will do, even if the situation is very bad for them, will be to go somewhere else. Only at the last minute will they take their strength from here."
Moscow's forces are using different tactics, using more motorized vehicles and smaller groups to scout the line. "The situation has not changed, it has become more difficult, because the enemy has started to use more equipment," Sikash said.
Despite this, other analysts say that Kiev's strategy involves concessions, but for the time being, it seems that first, Ukrainian territorial gains near Kursk are more important than territorial losses near Pokrovsk, says Konrad Muzika, director of Poland-based defense consultancy Roshan. Especially if the Ukrainians are properly fortified, then they will have a chance of inflicting heavy losses on Russian units."
"It's all about manpower and the extent to which Kiev is ready to defend the region."
The head of the military administration of the city of Pokrovsk, Yuri Tretyak, said in a phone call that local officials are urging residents to evacuate the town of Mirnograd, about 10 kilometers east of Pokrovsk, where Russian forces are advancing "little by little," adding that Russian forces are less than 8 kilometers from the town.
Russian defense: liberation of a new town in Donetsk and neutralization of more than 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry reported Thursday the liberation of a new town in the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic, noting that the total losses of the Ukrainian army during the last 24 hours amounted to about 2,085 soldiers.
"As a result of active operations carried out by units of the group of "Central" forces, the village of Zavitnoye in the Donetsk People's Republic was liberated," the Russian defense said in its daily report, adding that the enemy's losses in the area of responsibility of the "center" forces amounted to about 530 military personnel.
Here are the highlights of the Russian defense report:
• Units of the "North" Forces Group targeted hostile formations on the Volchansk-Liptsy axis in the Kharkov region, where Ukrainian losses reached about 125 soldiers
• Units of the "West" group of forces improved their tactical posture, striking enemy troops and military equipment in Kharkov, Lugansk and Donetsk, and Ukrainian forces there lost more than 500 troops, a large number of equipment and 5 field ammunition depots
• Units of the "South" group continued to advance deep into the enemy's defenses in Donetsk, and the losses of the Ukrainian army included about 745 military personnel and 3 field ammunition depots
• Units of the "East" group took control of more convenient lines and positions, while the enemy lost about 110 soldiers.
• Units of the "Dnieper" group struck hostile military formations and equipment in the Zaporozhye and Kherson provinces and the city of Kherson, and the losses of Ukrainian forces amounted to about 75 soldiers
• Hit an ammunition production plant, a warehouse for drones, a temporary deployment point for foreign mercenaries, as well as concentrations of troops and military equipment of the Ukrainian army in 136 regions
• 3 US-made ATACMS operational tactical missiles, 5 French-made Hammer guided bombs, one Olkha rocket launcher and 27 drones shot down
• The forces of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed 11 drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.