WASHINGTON — Russia may need two more weeks to mount a significant challenge to Ukrainian forces that have occupied the Kursk region after a border raid that began Aug. 6, according to U.S. officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun mobilizing troops for the fight, said the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly. But Russian forces are stretched, occupied by months fighting in a grinding war of attrition in eastern Ukraine.
The Russians do not appear to have the manpower and weaponry to keep pushing battle lines in Ukraine’s Donetsk region and respond to the incursion in Kursk, one official said.
Ukraine’s decision to raid the border region surprised Russia and Ukraine’s western allies, including the United States. On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian troops now occupied nearly 500 square miles of Russian territory, including 92 villages and towns.
More:One week in Kursk: Maps show evolution of Ukrainian incursion as Russia builds trenches
On Thursday, Sabrina Singh, the deputy Pentagon press secretary, told reporters that Zeleskyy has indicated that Ukraine’s incursion is intended to create a “buffer zone” to prevent Russian attacks.
“We do have some more questions on that,” Singh said.
Russia has moved forces toward the region, she said, without offering further details.
The sluggish response indicates Russia has a shortage of soldiers, including conscripts, to wage war in Ukraine and defend its own borders, said Seth Jones, senior vice president and director of the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“At least for the moment, President Putin does not want to conduct another major mobilization because of the potentially serious domestic political costs, and he doesn’t want to move a large number of soldiers from the Ukrainian front line,” Jones said. “Consequently, Putin faces an unpalatable choice between a slow response in Kursk or a military mobilization.”
For now, that means a slow response has fewer costs and risks than mobilization, Jones said.
More:Let us use long-range weapons, Zelenskyy says after Ukraine strikes 3rd Kursk bridge
Ukraine has also destroyed at least three bridges in the region to snarl Russia’s supply lines to the front. Another aim, according to Zelenskyy, is to drain Russian reserves. Putin’s response to the raid, the largest of Russia since World War II, has been slow as 200,000 Russians have been driven from their homes.
Russia, which launched its full-scale, unprovoked invasion in February 2022, occupies about 20% of Ukraine. The United States has supplied Ukraine with more than $55 billion in military aid during the war.
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