Reserve officer: Ukraine should reroute quality units from Kursk to Pokrovsk

Ukrainian forces may need to refocus their attention from the Kursk oblast, where they have taken Russian territory, to the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, where continued Russian advances threaten key supply routes, reserve Brigadier General and Riigikogu MP Alar Laneman said.
While the success of the Kursk offensive, started last summer, served to boost the morale of Ukrainian forces, now those units are needed on the main fronts, Laneman said.
This is the case even as Ukraine likely hopes to use Kursk Oblast as potential political leverage in any potential peace talks, with the change in U.S. administration and Russia's failure to subdue Ukraine.
Brig. Gen. Alar Laneman has urged stronger counteroffensives, to defend Ukraine's main fronts and overall military strategy, as Russia's invasion nears its fourth year.
Speaking to "Ukraina stuudio," the officer said: "If it turns out that Russian forces are able to advance on the open terrain and well-connected road networks there, a strong, mobile, well-trained, and well-equipped Ukrainian counterattack would be crucial," the brigadier general explained.
"At the moment, this is not the case," said Laneman, referring to the importance of focusing on the main objective and concentrating forces.
"It's always a matter of weighing options, but one of the fundamentals of military theory is that you must always focus on the main objective. And force must always be concentrated, not dispersed," Laneman went on.
"Now it seems to me that units in Kursk—strong units at that—are being used there instead of on the main fronts. I sincerely hope I am wrong about that," the brigadier general added.
"But if this is the case, I hope those forces will now be revectored to the center," Laneman continued.
"Looking at the map of Pokrovsk, it seems that the Russians have set the goal to move westward and reach the roads. The terrain there is relatively open, and I can't imagine how they will proceed," Laneman went on.
A transport hub, Pokrovsk, Donetsk oblast, has long been one of the hotspots in the ongoing war in Ukraine. It continues to hold out over six months since the start of the concentrated Russian offensive there, even as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has replaced the commander of a key Ukrainian military formation responsible for defending Pokrovsk, for the third time in under a year.
Alar Laneman was a member of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) until last year, and now sits as an independent MP at the Riigikogu.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Merili Nael
Source: "Ukraina stuudio", interviewer Reimo Sildvee.