Kursk operation cost was 'too high' for Ukraine, ex-military chief Zaluzhnyi says
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's former commander-in-chief, offered his first public assessment of Ukraine's 2024 cross-border operation in Russia's Kursk Oblast in an op-ed for the Ukrainian news outlet Mirror of the Week on Sept. 24.
"I don't know the cost of such actions, but it is clear that it was too high," he said.
Ukraine launched the unprecedented incursion in August 2024, advancing into Russian territory and seizing 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) within the first months.
The operation, planned by Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, sought to divert Russian troops from eastern Ukraine and disrupt Moscow's plans to invade Sumy Oblast, which borders Kursk Oblast.
Russia, reinforced by around 12,000 North Korean troops, launched a counter-offensive this spring that later forced Ukraine out of most of the captured Russian territory.
Zaluzhnyi, the current ambassador to the U.K., said that limited incursions can be undertaken, but practice showed they often failed to deliver long-term success.
"Practice has shown that, ultimately, an isolated tactical breakthrough on a narrow section of the front does not bring the necessary success to the attacking side," he wrote.
The former military chief added that Russia's forces had managed to leverage "technological and tactical advantages" to blunt Ukraine's gains and later counterattack.
Zaluzhnyi's comments contrast with Syrskyi's, who has consistently emphasized heavy Russian losses as the primary achievement of the Kursk campaign.
Syrskyi claimed in July that Moscow suffered 80,000 soldiers killed and wounded during the operation. He did not reveal Ukraine's casualties but said Russian losses were significantly higher.
The Kursk operation initially received praise for its surprise and scale as the first major offensive Ukraine had carried out on Russian soil. Experts remain divided over its strategic value.
Critics argue the incursion failed to slow Russian advances in Donetsk Oblast and evolved into a costly battle that drained resources. A year after the offensive began, Ukrainian leaders continue to cite Russian casualties as a measure of success.
Zaluzhnyi, who led Ukraine's armed forces through the first two years of Russia's full-scale invasion, was dismissed as commander-in-chief in February 2024 and replaced by Syrskyi.
The former military chief was appointed as an ambassador to the U.K. on July 11, 2024.
