Initial reports of the extent of the damage the Ukraine’s 116th Khorne Group’s strike on a Russian column in Rylsk has begun to emerge. In at least one post by a news company named Nexta, three pictures have emerged of the aftermath. In the pictures, Russian heavy transport vehicles for infantrymen are visible. These are destroyed.

Although the battle in the northeastern sector of Suzhda continue to be fierce with Ukrainians attempting to hold the Suzhda gas terminal at all costs, the Russians appear to be deteriorating Ukraine’s defense slowly but gradually. Videos have begun to surface showing Russian lancet drones targeting Ukrainian armor such as tanks, IFVs, or transporters in the areas in or around Suzhda.

One of the pro-nationalist news agencies in support of Russia’s full-scale invasion has written that “[in] Sudzha District, AFU units still hold the western suburbs of Sudzha, the center of the settlement is in the “gray zone” – enemy reconnaissance groups periodically make sorties, but they fail to consolidate their positions. The eastern outskirts of the city are under the control of Russian troops.” [rybar_force : status/1822238386939175052]

The Kyiv Independent, which is a pro NATO Ukrainian outlet for advancing Kyiv interests under the direction of Washington, London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels and owned by the Wall Street Journal, published an article extolling the raid. It wrote: “Ukraine pushing war into ‘aggressor’s territory,’ Zelensky says. “Today, Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi has already reported several times, on the front-line situation and on our actions to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory.”

The Institute for the Study of War, which moonlights as a research center for Kyiv’s operations in Washington, wrote that “It would take a year to regain lost territory in Kursk Region.” It called the prediction “a disappointing prognosis for Russia from Sergei Markov, a Kremlin-connected political analyst. Although Russia has more airpower than Ukraine, Moscow’s recent military operations in Kharkiv and Donbass have shown that it is extremely difficult to take territory where defences have been entrenched.”

It is unlikely, however, that Ukraine’s troops will be able to hold onto Suzhda for as long as the prediction is based on Ukraine’s current alignment of forces across the more than six fronts, especially with Russia advancing deep into Krasnoarmeysk direction. Just last month Russia advanced more than 76 square kilometers in the Krasnoarmeysk direction alone. If Ukraine loses Suzhda and the gas terminal located in the territory, then the rest of the Kursk operation loses its significance.