The General assessed how many troops Russia needs in the Kursk region to oust the AFU.

Putin's deadline for withdrawing the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the territory of Russia by mid-October is likely not to be met. The Russian army is already lacking resources in live forces, and this concerns not only the east of Ukraine.

This was stated by Lieutenant General Igor Romanenko, founder of the charitable foundation "Close the Sky of Ukraine", in an interview with FREEДОМ.

"According to foreign experts' estimates, to not only stop the advance of our troops but also push them to the borders, the enemy will need from 80 to 120 thousand troops. These troops need to be provided with appropriate means, which the enemy currently lacks. We know that there are heavy battles in the east, and the enemy also lacks forces for all the previously mentioned directions," the expert comments.

According to Romanenko, due to the insufficient number of troops, the Russian occupiers are forced to shift their focus in the Donetsk region — from Pokrovsk to Kurakhove, and then to Vuhledar. Temporarily, the Russian army is experiencing significant losses, and resources on all fronts are interconnected.

"Since our military and political leadership understands that resource-wise we look weaker than the RF, to achieve the goal we must develop asymmetric actions, which, as we saw in the Kursk direction, caused unexpected results with the enemy's small forces," he emphasizes.

The general also noted that the Kursk operation of the AFU has already achieved several goals, including creating a buffer zone.

"The Russians grouped their forces into 35 thousand troops and advanced 10 km in the Kharkiv region, but we are repelling them. We started with 15 thousand troops and advanced 35-40 km into the Kursk region. Now we are engaged in maintaining this buffer zone... In addition, from a military point of view, it should be noted that this operation spoiled the enemy's plans for an offensive in the Sumy region, which General Skibitsky from the Main Intelligence Directorate revealed a few months ago when he pointed out plans for an attack in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions. These plans were thwarted in the Sumy region," Igor Romanenko summarized.