Come la Russia ha guardato dalla parte sbagliata quando l’Ucraina ha invaso l’area: “I russi hanno avuto un completo fallimento di intelligence qui”: analista militare a Reuters

Excerpts from [article](https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/world/how-russia-looked-the-wrong-way-as-ukraine-invaded) by Mark Trevelyan, Anastasiia Malenko, and Gleb Stolyarov:

*[As] Ukraine began the biggest invasion of Russia since World War Two, the ministry published video showing General Valery Gerasimov, commander of the Russian war effort, visiting a different combat zone, also in Ukraine. He heard reports from commanders and set “tasks for further actions”, it said.*

*The footage did not specify the exact time of the visit, but revealed no concerns, or knowledge, of the events unfolding in Russia’s western Kursk region that threatened to upset Gerasimov’s plans and shift the course of the two-and-a-half-year war.*

*Panic spread quickly among local Russian residents in the early hours of the assault, despite repeated attempts by authorities to assure them that everything was under control, according to a timeline by Reuters of the first two days of the incursion, based on public statements, social media posts and analysis of video footage.*

*The idea that Ukraine could turn the tables on Russia and burst onto the territory of its much bigger neighbour seemed unthinkable to most observers before last week. The shock operation has raised questions about the effectiveness of Russia’s surveillance, as well as the calibre of its border fortifications and the forces guarding them.*

*“The Russians had a complete intelligence failure here,” French military expert Yohann Michel, research fellow at the IESD institute in Lyon, said in an interview.*

…

*It was not until the afternoon of the following day, Aug 7, that President Vladimir Putin and Gerasimov, his armed forces chief of staff, made their first public remarks on the Kursk events, which the Kremlin leader called “another major provocation” by Ukraine.*

*Gerasimov, fresh from his ill-timed trip, told Putin in the televised comments that Russian forces had “stopped” a force of up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers from thrusting deep inside Kursk region.*

*Michel, the military analyst, said it was unclear whether Gerasimov was misinformed by his own subordinates, or whether he felt compelled to deliver good news to Putin in front of the TV cameras.*

*Russian officials in such staged settings “say what they think the boss wants to hear or to see in public at that specific moment”, Michel said.*

…

*At 5:05 p.m., the defence ministry mentioned the incursion for the first time and said Russia had transferred reserves to the area.*

*“Troops covering the state border, together with units of the border troops of the FSB of Russia, are repelling the attacks and inflicting fire on the enemy in the area of ​​the state border and on its reserves in the Sumy region (of Ukraine),” it said.*

*At the briefing on Aug 7, Gerasimov told Putin: “The operation will end with the smashing of the enemy, and (Russian forces) reaching the state border.”*

*Ten days later, with more than 100,000 Russians displaced and Ukraine claiming control of more than 1,000 sq km (390 sq miles) of Kursk region, Moscow’s forces are still far from achieving that goal.*

“complete intelligence failure” – coincidence? i think not!

“We’re very lucky they’re so fucking stupid”