Tuesday saw Russian troops retaliating against Ukrainian military forces using an array of drones, missiles, and air raids. High-ranking command stated these actions obstructed Ukraine’s progress after their most substantial assault on Russia’s sovereignty since the conflict ignited. A week prior, Ukrainian soldiers breached the Russian boundary in an unexpected offensive, a move Russian leader Vladimir Putin believed was designed to bolster Kyiv’s negotiation clout before feasible discussions and stifle the march of Russian soldiers at the battle line.
Ukraine successfully claimed a portion of Russian land, demonstrating the inadequacy of Russian border protection, thereby sparking Moscow to expeditiously evacuate a minimum of 200,000 citizens whilst taking measures to implement a secure lockdown and deploy backup forces. Russian military enthusiasts reported heated confrontations through the Kursk front from Ukrainian military endeavouring to broaden their influence. However, they also reported Russia’s successful efforts to fend off numerous Ukrainian assaults by deploying soldiers and potent weapons.
The Russian defence department released videos displaying Sukhoi Su-34 bomber air raids on what they claimed were Ukrainian forces stationed at the Kursk border alongside infantry storming Ukrainian positions. Major General Apti Alaudinov, leader of the Chechen Akhmat special forces unit, stated that the enemy’s unbridled invasion had already been stopped. He further mentioned that the adversary already recognised that their planned blitzkrieg did not come to fruition.
The control of the Russian town of Sudzha, a significant hub in the gas network extending from western Siberia through Ukraine and onto Slovakia plus multiple other European Union nations, was unsure. Tuesday saw Gazprom stating it continued to channel gas to Ukraine via Sudzha. The acting governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, commented on Monday, stating Ukraine took control of 28 settlements within the region and the intrusion spanned about 12km into Russian territory and extended 40km in width.
Ukraine reportedly seized control over an area more than twice as large as the 1,000sq km of Russian land as suggested by Smirnov’s reports. Confirming these battlefield events independently, however, was something Reuters could not achieve. The bold venture of Ukraine infiltrating a country with the largest nuclear power worldwide poses significant threats, not just for Kyiv, but Moscow as well.
Following the 2022 invasion by Russia, leaders from the West pledged their support to Ukraine in their struggle against Russian soldiers, pushing them out from their turf. In that year, Ukraine managed to reclaim substantial territory areas. Ukraine’s countermove in 2023, though, failed to breach the heavily fortified Russian lines, allowing the Russian forces to press even further into Ukrainian soil throughout the year.
At his Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow, Putin ensured senior officials of Russia’s plan to expel Ukrainian troops, vowing a “fitting reply” and accentuating an acceleration in the Russian advancement on other front parts. The mere fact of foreign invasion of Russian land is a dint to the pride of the Russian military and Putin himself, who seemed markedly irked with at least one official during a Monday televised conference. Internationally, Russia holds a bit less than one-fifth of the land recognised as Ukraine.
In his nocturnal message to Ukrainians, the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, stated that the operation happening within Russia was critical to Ukraine’s security, noting the use of the Kursk region by Russia for a host of attacks against Ukraine. Yet, allocating forces to Kursk may expose other front regions, particularly when Russia has been making advancements. With a sizeably larger army, Russia could potentially encircle the Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine’s Western supporters, keen on preventing war escalation into a head-on clash between Russia and the Nato military alliance led by the US, admitted to not having any early warning about Ukraine’s assault. Putin accused the West of utilising Ukraine as a battle ground to wage an indirect war with Russia and suggested the border intrusion was a plot to disturb Russia’s internal stability.
Russia’s foreign spy agency, SVR, claimed that President Zelenskiy was taking dangerous actions that could potentially escalate the situation beyond Ukrainian borders.
It was reported that 121,000 individuals had either exited or were being expelled from Kursk, with a further 59,000 due for evacuation, according to local administrators. Alongside this, 11,000 citizens were also being relocated from Russia’s Belgorod area, which shares its borders with Kursk, confirmed by the governor of the area, as per Reuters.