WASHINGTON, August 15. /TASS/. The attack on the Kursk Region will seriously harm elite units of the Ukrainian armed forces in the long-term perspective, says Jasen Castillo, Co-Director of the Albritton Center for Grand Strategy, in his op-ed for the Responsible Statecraft website.

"My worry is that in the longer term, Ukraine, which is facing dangerous shortfalls in manpower and equipment, will deplete elite units that would have been needed elsewhere," the expert said.

In his opinion, the attack on the Kursk Region could be compared to Nazi Germany’s 1944 attack on the Western front, which surprised the Allies.

The German troops "made gains, and ended with a defeat at the Battle of the Bulge, which then wasted manpower and equipment it needed months later on the Eastern Front," he noted."

The massive attack of Ukrainian troops at the Kursk Region started on August 6. Missile alarm has been declared repeatedly in the region. Most of the residents of border areas have been temporarily relocated to safety, over 720 people were evacuated in the past 24 hours, according to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. According to the ministry, over 9,500 people are currently in temporary accommodation facilities. A state of federal emergency has been declared in the region.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev has already lost up to 2,640 troops, 37 tanks, 32 armored personnel carriers since the beginning of the hostilities on the Kursk direction. The operation on elimination of Ukrainian troops continues.