Russia has accused Ukraine of crossing the border into its Kursk region, a rarity, which if confirmed will be the first incursion of its kind from Ukraine putting pressure on Moscow in an area largely unaffected by the two-year Russia-Ukraine war..
The Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian Investigative Committee and the Russian Ombudsman for Children all said Ukrainian forces had launched a “massive attack” on Tuesday, August 6 attempting to break through the Russian defences on the borders of the Kursk region, which sits just north of Ukraine’s Sumy region.
Russian military bloggers said Ukrainian forces attacked by land and air to enter Russia near the town of Sudzha, about 6 miles (10 kilometres) from the border.
‼️In a surprising move, #Ukraine has crossed the border into #Russia and has advanced to #Kursk, taking at least five towns, claim #Russian sources. The offensive was launched in early hours of the morning. The fighting appears to be continuing on Russian soil. pic.twitter.com/xgPUNjPGOL
— SyriacOSINT (@SyriacOSINT) August 7, 2024
🚨#BREAKING: Ukraine military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region continues into second day. pic.twitter.com/945DBpHXu4
— World Source News (@Worldsource24) August 7, 2024
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that about 300 troops, supported by tanks and armoured vehicles, attacked Russian positions near the villages of Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya.
Ukrainian armor breaking into Russia's Kursk region.
Ukraine can and will win. pic.twitter.com/e651M39LYh
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) August 7, 2024
The ministry said, “the enemy is being inflicted with fire damage.”
Aleksey Smirnov, the acting Russian installed head of the Kursk region, said on Wednesday that several thousand people left the area over the past 24 hours.
It is unclear why Ukrainian forces would launch an attack of the scale described by Russian authorities especially as Russia continues to make slow but gradual gains in the east and Ukraine complains of low manpower in the war.
Some believe that the invasion could be an attempt to divert Russian resources elsewhere or help Kyiv boost the morale of its troops and civilian population.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitoring group, said it had geolocated footage published on August 6 that shows damaged and abandoned armoured vehicles roughly 4.3 miles (7 kilometres) north of the border, but said it could not confirm if they were Russian, Ukrainian or both.