Ukraine is rationing shells on the front with ammo redirected for the assault on Kursk, commander says

• A Ukrainian commander says Russian soldiers are advancing in eastern Ukraine due to dwindling ammo.
• He partly blamed Kyiv for sending resources to sustain the Kursk operation, per the Financial Times.

A Ukrainian artillery brigade commander says Russian soldiers are making advances in the east of the country, in part due to Kyiv sending needed resources to bolster its incursion into Russia's Kursk region.

The unnamed commander said his soldiers had to ration cannon shells because ammunition had been redirected for the military operation in Kursk, according to the Financial Times.

Ukraine launched its surprise offensive into the Russian border region on August 6, capturing around 386 miles of territory in a matter of days.

In an address to the nation on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said one of the operation's goals was to create a "buffer zone."

But the incursion has forced Ukraine to divert at least 10,000 soldiers from the main 600-mile front in eastern Ukraine, including many of its elite airborne forces and mechanized brigades, officials involved in the operation told the FT.

Defenses in the Donetsk region of Ukraine were already "showing cracks" in the days before soldiers were sent to Kursk, one senior Ukrainian official familiar with military operations told the outlet.

It's not just Ukraine that has needed to divert resources, however.

Russia has also had to divert its troops from the main front line to Kursk.

Two unnamed senior US officials told CNN last week that multiple groups of Russian soldiers — of at least 1,000 troops each — had likely already been diverted to Kursk.

An unnamed person familiar with Ukraine's operation told The Wall Street Journal last week that Russia had withdrawn up to 5,000 troops from Ukraine to defend Kursk, but would likely need more than 20,000 trained soldiers to retake the region.

In an update on Sunday, The Institute for the Study of War think tank said that Russian redeployments from Ukraine to Kursk could weaken Russia's ability to sustain offensive operations on its main front lines.

However, it's unclear whether it will be enough to stop Russia from making notable advances in the east of Ukraine.

Due to the size of the conflict, neither Russia nor Ukraine can win the war with a single, decisive campaign, the ISW said.