Ukraine blows up Russian Marine Corps headquarters across Kursk

For the second time in two weeks, Ukrainian forces have blown up a headquarters of Russia’s 810th Marine Infantry Brigade. The beleaguered brigade, one of the lead units for Russia’s two-month-old counteroffensive in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast, simply can’t catch a break.

According to the Ukrainian General Staff in Kiev, the “precision attack” hit the headquarters of the 810th Marine Infantry Brigade in Belaya on Tuesday. It’s unclear what munitions the Ukrainians used, but Belaya is just 20 miles east of Sudzha – the anchor of the 250-square-mile salient that Ukrainian troops carved out of Kursk in August – so there are plenty of candidates.

These include U.S.-made highly mobile artillery rocket systems that fire guided missiles or Army tactical ballistic missile systems, fighter aircraft that fire American or French glide bombs or French or British cruise missiles, and heavy attack drones. Thirty-five months after the start of Russia’s larger war against Ukraine, Ukraine has a range of heavy-attack weapons.

The beleaguered 810th Marine Brigade was the recipient of a disproportionate share of this firepower. On Christmas Day, the Ukrainians attacked a separate brigade headquarters in Lgov, 25 miles north of Sudzha, leaving a “fiery impression,” the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications quipped.

Shortly after the Christmas attack, the 810th Marine Brigade left the front line on the northwestern edge of the Kursk Salient and headed to Plekhove, east of the salient, for a brief rest.

The 2,500-man unit needed a break. The 810th Marines Brigade and its sister unit in the Kursk counteroffensive, the tragic 155th Marines Brigade, have been severely weakened by two months of mostly failed attacks on the salient.

Today, Ukrainian troops repelled another attack by the 810th Marine Infantry Brigade around Pogrebki, the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies reported. The Russian Marines have thrown at least two 400-man battalions at Pogrebki since November, with nothing but casualties.

Also today: According to CDS, a Ukrainian missile struck a concentration of Marines from the 810th Marine Brigade in Ivanovskoe, 25 miles north of Sudzha. Given repeated attacks on Russian marines elsewhere in Kursk, this attack in Ivanovskoe seems almost unfounded.