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Ukraine’s shocking incursion into Russia’s Kursk region did not come as a complete surprise to the Russian military.
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Russian lawmaker Andrey Gurulyov said the military was warned about the attack a month ago.
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“But from the top came the order not to panic and to let those above know better,” he said.
Ukraine took the world by surprise when attacked the Russian Kursk region last week, but a Russian lawmaker claims the country’s military knew of the planned incursion a month before it took place.
“But from above came the order not to panic and for those above to know better,” Andrey Gurulyova member of the State Duma and a retired major general told military expert Vladislav Shurygin in a televised interview which aired on August 8, by a translation of The New York Times.
The Russian military, Gurulyov said, was informed about Ukraine’s plans for Kursk about a month ago.
The former army officer said the military leadership had received an intelligence report warning of the Ukrainian’s imminent attack.
Ukraine launched a shock offensive in the Kursk region on August 6. complex and surprise attack was a great success for the embattled country, which was caught with the back foot after Congress delayed more than $60 billion in aid.
The Ukraine aid law was finally passed in April after months of back and forth.
On Monday, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said they would seized nearly 400 square miles from Russian territory in just a few days. This is close to the amount of Ukrainian territory captured by Russia this year.
This is not the first time Gurulyov has criticized Russia’s military leaders for their poor strategy and incompetence on the battlefield.
In September, Gurulyov said in a Telegram Message that the military were using lies and false reports minimize Ukraine’s achievements during its failed counteroffensive in Russia.
“Victory is separated from us only by one serious problem of ours: lies. Yes, there is less of it than there was at the beginning of the special military operation, but it is there,” Gurulyov wrote, using the euphemism for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“False reporting, unfortunately, leads to poor decisions on many levels. It’s there, let’s admit it and fight it, otherwise it will be a disaster,” she added.
Representatives from the Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside normal business hours.
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