Russians redeployed 60,000 troops to Kursk Oblast – Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that Russia has redeployed 60,000 troops to Kursk Oblast from the war zone in Ukraine due to the success of Ukraine's Kursk operation. Source: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with NBC News Quote: "One of the goals of the Kursk operation is to bring their troops... back to their territory.

I can now announce this: they have redeployed about 60,000 troops there as of today. They have withdrawn [military personnel] from areas where we encountered challenges due to the lack of military [aid] packages [from Ukraine's allies]."

Details: The president noted that it came to a point where Ukraine could respond with only 1 shell to 12 Russian shells. Zelenskyy stressed that after some Russian forces were withdrawn from the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, the ratio of shells in some areas shifted from 1-to-12 to 1-to-3.

Background: On 27 August, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, reported that Russia had deployed 30,000 troops to Kursk Oblast, with their number increasing daily.

Read also: Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi's raid: how the Ukrainian offensive in Russia's Kursk Oblast is progressing and what to expect next Background:

• The operation in Kursk Oblast began on 6 August. On 10 August, on the fifth day of the Ukrainian army's offensive deep into Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine had brought the war to Russian territory.
• On 27 August, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that since the beginning of the operation in Kursk Oblast in Russia, Ukraine had captured 594 Russian soldiers and controlled more than 100 settlements or 1,294 square kilometres.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that such actions are aimed at creating a buffer zone to prevent Russian military operations against Ukraine.
• Russian leader Vladimir Putin persistently continues to downplay the success of the Ukrainian operation in Kursk Oblast, trying his best to convince Russian society that Ukraine's control over 100 Russian settlements means nothing.

  However, on 5 September, he said that the "sacred duty" of Russian soldiers is to retake the part of Kursk Oblast that is currently controlled by the Ukrainian military.

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