Estonia's Defense Ministry: Russian forces have command problems in Kursk region

He said this at the Estonian Defense Ministry's weekly press briefing on Friday, Ukrinform reports, citing ERR.

Puusepp said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had been able to successfully conceal their activities and preparations before entering the Kursk region, which is why they also managed to catch Russia by surprise.

"It is possible that the Russian Armed Forces have major command and control problems in the region. They are unable to respond effectively to the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and everything they are doing at the moment is rather reactive in nature," Puusepp said.

"In other words, they are building deep defensive lines and trying to concentrate units against the main lines of attack from the Ukrainian Armed Forces," he said.

He added that according to Russian social media reports, the Russian Armed Forces would soon launch a counteroffensive.

"But so far there is no indication that any are taking place on a large scale. And it is not known in which area they might take place," Puusepp said.

According to him, based on publicly available map data, the Ukrainian Armed Forces appear to have control of an area of around 500 square kilometers.

Lt Col. Puusepp also explained how Ukraine is trying to reduce the Russian Armed Forces' ability to launch aerial attacks by targeting airfields and the aircraft in Kursk, as it is easier to destroy them on the ground than in the air.

"On August 14, Ukrainian forces attacked four air bases – Borisoglebsk, Voronezh, Savasleyka and Kursk – using long-range attack drones," he said. "In Savasleyka there are MiG-31K fighters, which are used by the Russian Armed Forces to fire Kinzhal missiles at Ukraine. The Russian Federation claims that they shot down up to 110 UAVs (drones - ed.). At the moment there is no information regarding whether any Russian aircraft were damaged in the attack. Technical facilities at Borisoglebsk airfield were hit, though the results of the attack there are also unclear at the moment."

Ukraine has also used innovative techniques against enemy helicopters in the Kursk region, employing FPV (first-person-view) or rally drones in its attacks to try to hit helicopters while they are in the air.

"Russia is reported to have lost at least one MiG-28 attack helicopter, one MiG-8 combat support and transport helicopter and possibly one Ka-52 attack helicopter in the Kursk region due to these kinds of attacks. On top of that, it is possible that another Ka-52 attack helicopter was shot down by a portable air defense system in the region," Puusepp said.