MOSCOW,– Russian forces launched a series of missile, drone, and airstrikes on Tuesday against Ukrainian troops following what one senior Russian commander described as the most significant attack on Russian territory since the war began.
The Ukrainian offensive, which began a week ago, marked a surprising incursion into sovereign Russian soil, resulting in Moscow evacuating nearly 200,000 people and rushing reinforcements to the front lines.
The unexpected assault by thousands of Ukrainian soldiers breached Russia’s border, a move that Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested was an attempt by Kyiv to gain leverage in potential negotiations and slow Russia’s advance along the conflict’s front lines.
As Ukrainian forces attempted to solidify their control over a slice of Russian territory, intense fighting erupted across the Kursk front. Russian war correspondents reported heavy clashes, but indicated that Russian forces were bolstering their defenses with soldiers and heavy weaponry, successfully repelling several Ukrainian attacks.
The Russian Ministry of Defense released images of Sukhoi Su-34 bombers targeting what it claimed were Ukrainian positions in the Kursk border area. The ministry also reported the destruction of 35 Ukrainian tanks, 31 armored personnel carriers, 18 infantry fighting vehicles, and 179 other armored vehicles during the week-long battle.
Major General Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces unit, asserted that the Ukrainian advance had been halted. “The enemy is already aware that the blitzkrieg they planned did not work out,” Alaudinov stated.
Amid the ongoing conflict, the situation in the Russian town of Sudzha, a critical point for gas delivery from Western Siberia through Ukraine to European Union countries, remained unclear. Despite the uncertainty, Russian energy giant Gazprom confirmed that it was continuing gas shipments through Sudzha.
Kursk’s acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, reported on Monday that Ukrainian forces controlled 28 settlements within the region, with the incursion stretching approximately 12 kilometers deep and 40 kilometers wide. Ukraine, however, claimed to control a larger area, asserting it had captured 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russian territory.
The incursion represents the most significant foreign occupation of Russian land since Nazi Germany’s invasion in June 1941, which led to the historic 1943 Battle of Kursk. While President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine framed the operation as essential for Ukrainian security, the shift in Ukrainian forces to the Kursk region raises concerns about leaving other parts of the front vulnerable to Russian advances.
Putin, speaking from his Novo-Ogaryovo residence, vowed to expel Ukrainian forces and emphasized that Russian troops were accelerating their offensive on other fronts. However, the Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory remains a serious embarrassment for both the Russian military and Putin himself.
Western nations, particularly those in the U.S.-led NATO alliance, expressed surprise at the Ukrainian offensive, emphasizing their desire to avoid direct confrontation with Russia. Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) accused Zelenskiy of taking reckless steps that could escalate the conflict beyond Ukraine’s borders.
In response to the incursion, local officials in the Kursk region reported that 121,000 people had already been evacuated, with another 59,000 in the process of being relocated. In the neighboring Belgorod region, which also borders Kursk, 11,000 civilians were evacuated, according to the regional governor.
Source: Reuters