Victory Road: control of the Suja-Rylsk highway brings the liberation of Kursk Region closer

The liberation of the village of Sverdlikovo in Kursk Region has deprived the AFU of the opportunity to advance towards Rylsk, experts interviewed by Izvestiya said. According to the Defense Ministry, Russian troops have taken control of the Suja-Rylsk highway. In addition, with the transfer of Sverdlikovo under the control of the Russian Armed Forces, the task of the offensive towards Suja itself becomes much easier. On Wednesday, February 19, President Vladimir Putin said that Russian units crossed the border of Kursk region and entered the territory of the enemy.

The highway is under control

Russian armed forces took control of the Suja-Rylsk road during the liberation of the village of Sverdlikovo in the Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday. The ministry published footage of the battle fought by assault units of the 51st Guards Parachute and Airborne Regiment.

"At the initial stage, Tula paratroopers, using the results of fire defeat by aviation, artillery and UAVs, carrying out assault actions, captured the northern part of the settlement of Sverdlikovo and took control of the Suja - Rylsk road," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry noted that the military faced fierce resistance of the enemy and, moving from shelter to shelter, knocked out the militants from their positions. After that, the paratroopers raised and fixed the flag of Russia and the flag of the Airborne Troops on the war memorial in honor of the victory in the Great Patriotic War in the village.

On the same day, President Vladimir Putin said that soldiers of the 810th Brigade had crossed the border with Ukraine in the Kursk region. "The latest information reported to me literally an hour ago: tonight fighters of the 810th Brigade crossed the border between Russia and Ukraine and entered enemy territory," the head of state said, adding that Russian troops were advancing along the entire line of contact.

The Defense Ministry reported the liberation of Sverdlikovo on February 17. At the same time, Russian troops repelled three counterattacks by the AFU.

Fighters of the "North" group told RIA Novosti that Russian units captured many prisoners during the capture of Sverdlikovo. "The liberation of the village of Sverdlikovo was very rapid, so the AFU military did not even have time to move away from their positions. Those who did not surrender were captured by Russian fighters. There are many prisoners, " the agency quotes Russian servicemen as saying.

- "The liberation of any settlement that is under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation is already an event and a small victory," Roman Shkurlatov, chairman of the Officers of Russia public organization, told Izvestia. - And Sverdlikovo makes it possible to control the asphalt highway from Suja to Rylsk. The enemy could try to advance towards Rylsk on this highway, but now he has no such opportunity.

From Sverdlikovo to the outskirts of Suja, there are no settlements to which the enemy could cling, the expert added.

- Of course, it's not so easy there, you can't walk around - everything is under the control of artillery, drones and other things. But there are no populated areas where they could create defensive positions. Now the main thing is to put the Suja - Sumy highway under firm control, through which the enemy carries out transportation, evacuation and rotation. If this is done, it will make life very difficult for the entire Ukrainian grouping in the Suja district," Roman Shkurlatov concluded.

Taking the highway under control cuts off Ukrainian forces from receiving reinforcements, military expert Viktor Litovkin told Izvestia.

- And on the other hand, it deprives them of the opportunity to get out of the cauldron we are creating for them near Suzha," the expert explained. - They will not be able to escape from under fire and save their lives. The territory occupied by the enemy is narrowing more and more. He has nowhere to go. If he does not break out of the encirclement, he is finished.

The invasion of Kursk region by the Ukrainian armed forces

Ukrainian forces invaded the Kursk region at 5:30 a.m. on August 6, 2024. The enemy was met by a small number of forces covering the state border together with border guards and reinforcement units. The next day, the head of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, reported to the president that the AFU had been stopped and assured that they would be knocked out of the region.
By the end of the day on August 7, the AFU's losses totaled 315, including at least 100 killed and 215 wounded. Fifty-four units of armored vehicles, including seven tanks, were destroyed. The air strikes and artillery fire, as well as the actions of marine infantry units and army units succeeded in stopping the attempts of the AFU mobile groups and foreign mercenaries to break through deep into the territory of the Russian Federation. Thus began the battles in the border region, which received the unofficial name of the "Battle of Kursk".

In December, during a direct line, President Vladimir Putin assessed this operation of the AFU as senseless. "There was no military sense at all: neither for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to enter the Kursk region, nor to hold on there now the way they do, throwing their best assault groups and units there for slaughter," the head of state said.

He noted the extremely high losses of the enemy during the invasion. "Now the number of armored vehicles hit in the Kursk region has already, I think, outgrown the amount of equipment destroyed by our guys over the whole of last year along the entire line of contact," the president stressed.

Putin promised that the enemy will definitely be knocked out of Russian territories, but did not name a specific date. "I imagine, I know, there are plans, they are reported to me on a regular basis, but just to say, here by such a date, it is not done, because the guys hear me - a day, two, I will name such a date, and they will go by all means to this date, will not count with losses. We can't do that," the President explained.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry on February 19, since the beginning of hostilities in the Kursk area, the enemy has lost more than 62040 soldiers, 371 tanks, 277 infantry fighting vehicles, 228 armored personnel carriers, 1937 armored fighting vehicles, 2088 cars, 456 artillery guns, 49 multiple rocket launchers, including 13 American HIMARS and six MLRS, 22 SAM launchers and dozens of other equipment.