What's behind Russia's sluggish response to Ukrainian raid?

WASHINGTON — Russian forces have begun slowly responding to a week-long Ukrainian border raid that caught Moscow and even Kyiv's allies by surprise, according to three U.S. officials.

Ukrainian troops poured across the lightly defended border northeast of Kyiv last week, seizing villages and taking Russian troops prisoner. The Ukrainians, backed by more than $55 billion in Pentagon aid since Russia’s invasion in Feb. 2022, did not inform the White House or Pentagon in advance of their incursion, a U.S. official said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin as blamed Ukraine's allies for the embarrassing breach .

"It appears that the enemy, with the support from their Western backers, is executing their directives, and the West is using Ukrainians as proxies in this conflict," he said Monday at a national security meeting in Moscow.

"It seems the opponent is aiming to strengthen their negotiating position for the future," he added.

More: Russia opens new front in Ukraine war. Is Ukraine losing the war with Russia?

Caught off guard, Russia's initial response has been muted. Three U.S. officials, none of whom were authorized to speak publicly, described an under-prepared Russian military that may be constrained in its efforts to repel the Ukrainians by an over-reliance on artillery.

The Russian military lacks quick-reaction forces that can respond to an emergency, one of the officials noted, while the Pentagon trains and equips forces to respond quickly when needed. For example, the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division is capable of “forcible entry” missions anywhere in the world within 18 hours. Within four days, the division is prepared to deploy larger numbers of soldiers.

While Russian forces have pummeled the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine with millions of artillery shells in the more than than 900 days since Putin first invaded, Moscow has has been reluctant to use heavy artillery shelling to expel the Ukrainians from Kursk , two officials said.

Part of the reason may be a reluctance to attack its own towns, officials said. The Russian may also be running short on artillery ammunition, which they’ve fired constantly during intense fighting in eastern Ukraine.

More: One week in Kursk: Maps show Ukraine offensive as Russia builds trenches after attack

More recently, Russia has begun to move forces to confront the Ukrainian forces that now occupy as much as 1,000 square kilometers in Kursk, according to a second official. Among the reasons for the slow response is that Russian authorities don’t have a clear sense of what the Ukrainians are trying to do.

One possible motive for Ukraine’s attack is capturing Russian troops that Ukraine could use in a prisoner exchange, one official said. More than 3,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war have returned home in prisoner swaps, but it's unclear how many POWs each side is holding.

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"Our advance in Kursk is going well today – we are reaching our strategic goal. The 'exchange fund' for our state has also been significantly replenished," Zelenskyy said Wednesday night.

Ukraine's Kursk gambit has raised morale in the country amid a dismal stalemate that's seen small but punishing Ukrainian losses in recent months.

More: Life on Ukraine’s front line: ‘Worse than hell’ as Russia advances

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, on Wednesday, according to a summary of their call.

“Minister Umerov provided an update on battlefield dynamics, as well as the impact of Russia's continued attacks in Ukraine,” Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What's behind Russia's sluggish response to Ukrainian raid?