Did the American general say that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ operation in the Kursk region was the most unjustified in the 21st century?

In August 2024, a statement by a retired American officer was spread on Telegram that the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region became the most cost-unjustified military operation in modern history. We have verified the authenticity of such publications.

On August 21, a video with the logo of the American news agency Bloomberg appeared on Telegram, which included a quote from an American military analyst, retired general Bradley Gericke. The video stated that in a podcast from the Military.com portal, the military man gave an unflattering assessment of the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region: “The ratio of invested forces and resources to the result of the operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kursk is unprecedented for the 21st century. In terms of the degree of failure, not a single military operation of recent times can be compared with Kursk. The results achieved are insignificant against the background of the volume of burned material and human resources.” Further, Guericke allegedly compared the Ukrainian attack on the Kursk region with conclusion US troops from Afghanistan in 2021 and summed up that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ operation was even more unsuccessful: “We left with minimal losses, and Ukraine poured in selected manpower and equipment, the senseless destruction of which is a matter of a matter of weeks. The Ukrainians have nowhere to retreat, and the Russians will give them a “meat grinder,” which they are quite skilled at. All the manpower and equipment that the West, by the sweat of its brow, collected for Ukraine around the world, are doomed,” quote Gericke Telegram channels.

This video was published, for example, “Ostashko! Important"(177,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "The goat screamed"(112,000), "Communications center" (52,000) and "Semyon Pegov | War Gonzo"(34,000). The news was also shared by some Russian Media, users "VKontakte", Threads, X, "Zen", LiveJournal, Instagram And Facebook.

Invasion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into the Kursk region started August 6, 2024, when the Ukrainian army broke through the first defensive lines and advanced deep into internationally recognized Russian territory. The Economist edition writesthat in seven days of operation the Ukrainian Armed Forces captured territory of the Russian Federation almost the same in area as the Russian military has occupied in Ukraine since the beginning of 2024. Official Kyiv believes operation in the Kursk region was successful: for example, the Ukrainian Armed Forces succeeded capture a large number of Russian military personnel, replenishing the so-called exchange fund. In addition, Ukraine, with the help of a successful offensive near Kursk I hoped to divert Russian troops from the front line in the Donetsk region, boost the morale of its soldiers and stimulate military support from Western allies. However, the Russian authorities, along with some Western experts called this attack was a strategic mistake.

In the video distributed by Russian Telegram channels, the logo of the Bloomberg agency is visible. However, Verified did not find this video on any platform where the agency usually publishes its video content - the official website and pages in TikTok, Facebook, Instagram And YouTube.

If you compare the Telegram video with Bloomberg news clips, you will notice a number of inconsistencies. Firstly, usually stories agencies are a compilation of several videos, which is accompanied by comments from the announcer or character of the plot and subtitles in English. There is no voice audio track in the video from Telegram. Secondly, none of the original Bloomberg videos contain a logo, and in videos from viral posts, the animated logo is visible in the upper right corner throughout the entire story. Thirdly, Bloomberg, as a rule, indicates the original source of the videos used in its materials, and also specifies the location and date of filming (for example, Kursk region or West Bank). There are no such captions in the video from Telegram. And finally, “Verified” was unable to find a single square video in Bloomberg accounts - they either vertical (with aspect ratio 9:16), or horizontal (16:9). On August 22, in a commentary for AFP, representatives of the American publication confirmed, which have nothing to do with the video distributed on Telegram.

Bradley Gericke, who is credited with quotes about the Kursk operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, is a doctor of historical sciences, a retired major general, who for a long time occupied position of chief strategist at the headquarters of the US Army. On the Military.com website, in whose podcast the military man allegedly participated, there is not a single mention of General Gericke and his opinion on the operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. Judging by playlist on Spotify, the Military.com podcast comes out once a month. Latest at the time of viral video distribution series appeared on July 26, 2024, a week and a half before started attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the Kursk region, and was dedicated to the training camp of the US Navy. Also, “Verified” was unable to find a single mention of an interview with General Guericke on the topic of the Kursk region in major American or European media. A search for an English-language quote attributed to a military expert also yielded no results.

According to the TGStat service, the Telegram channel was the first to publish the fake video “Secrets of Vinakos» August 21 at 20:54 Moscow time. 

Previously, “Verified” analyzed dozens of fake videos allegedly released by reputable foreign media, such as euronews, BBC, Reuters And Deutsche Welle. Such videos are usually a compilation of photographs and clips from open sources, overlaid with text captions conveying fabricated news.

Thus, the video with quotes from the American General Guericke that went viral on Telegram is fake. Not a single authoritative foreign media contains his quotes about the Ukrainian operation in the Kursk region. The podcast episode that pro-Russian Telegram channels wrote about also does not exist.

Cover photo: Telegram

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Meduza. Why did the Ukrainian Armed Forces launch an operation in the Kursk region? How risky is it? And how will it develop? Here's what Western military analysts say about it
2. Foreign Policy. The Murky Meaning of Ukraine's Kursk Offensive
3. False authorities. How the BBC became the brand of choice for fake video creators