Ukraine's attack on Russia apparently continues

by Harald Neuber

[This article posted on 8/8 /2024 is translated from the German on the Internet, https://www.telepolis.de/features/Bis-zu-zehn-Kilometer-vorgestossen-Angriff-der-Ukraine-auf-Russland-dauert-offenbar-an-9827864.html.]

Invasion in the Kursk region. Moscow must admit the extent, Kiev remains silent, withholding important details. Is this the beginning of a new chapter in the war?

According to Russian information, the Ukrainian military has invaded the Kursk border region and is said to be involved in ongoing, sometimes heavy fighting with Russian troops. Telepolis had already reported on the Ukrainian invasion in Russia on Tuesday night, and leading media such as tagesschau.de and Spiegel have now also taken up this explosive development.

According to official sources, the Ukrainian army sent its largest force of regular troops to Russia on Tuesday morning. Drone attacks continued throughout Wednesday.

The Russian defense ministry had mentioned the fighting on Tuesday in reports on the military situation of the day, but presented its own situation very positively. It has since emerged that the Ukrainian advance into Russia appears to have been much more successful than Moscow initially admitted.

The US Institute for the Study of War reports, citing Russian sources, that on August 6, Ukrainian forces carried out “a series of incursions into Russia's Kursk region.”

According to the Kyiv-based daily Ukrainska Pravda, both the Russian Defense Ministry and the FSB domestic intelligence agency have reported that Russian border troops, together with FSB officers, have repelled several Ukrainian incursions involving a battalion-sized force with tanks and armored vehicles.

Ukrainian troops advanced up to ten kilometers

On August 6, about 300 Ukrainian infantrymen, accompanied by a dozen tanks and more than 20 armored vehicles, attacked Russian military units in the Kursk region, according to Russian information, the US foreign radio station Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty in Ukraine reported.

The invasion began on Tuesday morning, whereupon the Russian Defense Ministry announced the use of air force and artillery to crush the invading troops.

Towns in Russia attacked

The Ukrainian army attacked two towns in the Kursk Oblast – Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya – both of which border the Ukrainian Sumy region and are 13 kilometers apart. The invaders are said to have advanced about ten kilometers into Russian territory.

The acting governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, stated on Wednesday via the Telegram messaging service that the situation is “controllable.” In the past 24 hours, there have been at least a dozen air alarms in the Kursk region.

According to Russian figures, five people have been killed, including two crew members of an ambulance. At least 20 people have been injured, including six children.

No official statement from Kyiv

Ukraine has not issued an official statement, although there is evidence of military activity on its side of the border. Both Kyiv and Moscow claim their attacks are not directed against civilians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not mention any cross-border operations in Russia's Kursk or Belgorod oblasts in his nightly address on August 6. Nor did the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform or the news agency Interfax-Ukraine provide details of the alleged incidents. Journalists from the Kyiv Post received no information from sources in the Ukrainian general staff when requested.

Russian President Vladimir Putin convened a meeting with Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and other senior officials in the face of reports of a push by Ukrainian troops into their own territory.

Putin called these incidents a “large-scale provocation”. No statement from Kiev on the fighting in the region has been forthcoming.

Russian pro-Kremlin Telegram channels reported that the fighting in the cities of Sudscha and Korenewo is continuing. Russian troops have withdrawn from the Sudscha distribution station, which supplies gas to Europe via Ukraine.

In response to unofficial reports that Ukrainian forces had reached the important transit point of Sudja, prices for European natural gas rose sharply, according to the US news agency Bloomberg.