Was warned about the attack - Putin knew nothing

Russian invasion
Was warned of the attack - responds with the lego force

Knut Sahlin Ekberg

Updated 23.12 | Published 22.37

The Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region took Russia to bed.

Despite the fact that Russian defense chiefs had intelligence that something was afoot as early as two weeks ago.

Now Russia responds – by sending Wagner soldiers from Mali to the front line.

Quick version

•  Ukraine has launched a surprise offensive in the Kursk region, taking control of 11 communities, shocking Russia's leadership.
• Russia responds by sending Wagner soldiers from Mali to the front line, following intelligence lapses by Russian army chief Valery Gerasimov.
• This is one of the biggest attacks on Russia in two years.

Fighting in the Kursk region continues after a shock offensive by Ukraine. The Ukrainian forces have taken control of eleven communities and "penetrated at least two Russian defense lines".

It is one of the biggest attacks on Russia in the now two-year war. 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers already stormed the border on August 6 with tanks, armored vehicles, drones and air artillery. This is reported by Reuters with reference to Russian authorities.

It must have come as a shock to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who now accuses Ukraine of a "huge provocation". Kremlin loyalist politician Sergei Mironov called it a terrorist attack and an "invasion of internationally recognized territory".

Devastation in the city of Sudzha, located in the Kursk region, after the attack. Photo: AP

Was warned before the attack

Now Russia's army chief Valery Gerasimov has ended up under the gallows. He and other top commanders ignored intelligence that suggested Ukrainian soldiers were massing in the Kursk region two weeks before the attack, according to Bloomberg. And that information never reached the supreme commander, Vladimir Putin.

He called them to a meeting on Wednesday to be updated on the situation at the front.

Even Ukraine's closest ally, the United States, did not know that the operation in Kursk was underway.

At the same time, information comes that Russia has now relocated its mercenary force - the infamous Wagner group, reports Novaya Gazeta with reference to a number of pro-Russian bloggers.

The soldiers will be sent from Mali in Africa to support the Russian troops in Kursk, wrote a telegram channel.

The announcement comes just days after Mali cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine.

Wagner soldiers in Mali. Archive image. Photo: AP

"It's going to be hot"

- Didn't I say there would be good news? Here you have it - the Wagner group returns to Russia, writes blogger Yegor Guzenko, known under the alias "Thirteen".

In a video on the platform, a soldier is seen heading towards the fighting.

- It will be hot, but we have fire extinguishers, he says.

Since the group's leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's failed mutiny and subsequent death in a suspicious plane crash last year, the Wagner Group has been divided. The soldiers who were still fighting had to choose either to move to Belarus or swear an oath to the Russian Armed Forces and fight in Ukraine.

On Thursday, Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that the army and the FSB security force had succeeded in weakening Ukraine's offensive.

The information that Ukrainian soldiers were gathering at the border never reached Putin. Photo: Valery Sharifulin/AP