Aug 10, 2024  

Russia is fighting intense battles as a substantial Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk region goes into a fifth day.

Ukraine Pushes Into New Part of Russia: Reports

By Brendan Cole Senior News Reporter

Newsweek

a day ago

Russian TV Stunned by Ukraine's Kursk Attack: 'How Could This Happen?'

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Uploaded: Aug 9, 2024

Russian TV pundits shared their disappointment and surprise over Ukraine's Kursk attack. Published Aug 10, 2024 at 5:04 AM EDT

The Russian Defense Ministry has said that it is repelling Ukraine's forces in the northwestern region. However, reports say that Kyiv's troops are operating more than six miles inside the frontier, amid some accounts add that they are even deeper in Russian territory. Thousand of civilians from districts around the town of Sudzha have been evacuated from their homes.

However, on Saturday, video footage posted on Telegram purportedly showed troops fighting for Ukraine in the Belgorod region further north, which itself has been the scene of cross-border skirmishes over the course of the war. The veracity of the clip has not been independently confirmed, and it is unclear when it filmed. Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment.

Screen grab of Ukrainian soldiers in Poroz — This screengrab from social media purports to show a group of soldiers fighting for Ukraine saying they had arrived in Poroz, in Russia's Belgorod region. It comes days after Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into... Screen grab via Telegram

Other social-media users shared the video and noted the significance of another purported move by Ukraine in a separate part of Russia's border region.

"Apparently not satisfied with taking Russia's Kursk region, a motivated Ukrainian Army reportedly begins moving into Belgorod," reported the English-language newspaper Kyiv Post.

The X (formerly Twitter) account of War is Translated wrote that Ukraine's 252nd Battalion "claims control over the village of Poroz in Belgorod Oblast. This means the Ukrainian forces have crossed the border in a new area."

"The 252nd Battalion has taken control of the village of Poroz, sending a message to the world," posted news outlet Visegrád 24.

On Friday, Belgorod was named along with Kursk and Bryansk as three regions where Russian authorities have declared they are launching a counterterrorism operation.

The Russian anti-terrorism committee, headed by Federal Security Service (FSB) director Alexander Bortnikov, said that the measures followed Ukraine's "unprecedented attempt to destabilize the situation in a number of regions of our country."

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Russia was fighting intense battles on Saturday against thousands of Ukrainian troops as deep as 20 km (12 miles) inside the Kursk region after Ukraine's biggest attack on Russian sovereign territory since the start of the war in 2022.

Ukrainian forces rammed through the Russian border early on Tuesday and swept across some Western parts of Russia's Kursk region, a surprise attack that may be aimed at gaining leverage in possible ceasefire talks after the U.S. election.
Supported by swarms of drones and heavy artillery fire, Ukrainian units moved quickly to carve out a sliver of the Western Russian territory beside the border while sabotage units pierced deeper inside Russia, according to Russian war bloggers.

"The armed forces continue to repel the attempted invasion by the Ukrainian armed forces," Russia's defense ministry said on Saturday, adding that intense battles were focused around Malaya Loknya, Olgovka and Ivashkovskoye, settlements around 10-20 km inside Russia.

In a sign of the gravity of the situation, Russia imposed a sweeping security regime in three border regions on Saturday while Belarus said it had repelled what it thinks was a major drone attack from Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin cast the Ukrainian attack as a major provocation and though Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday that Ukraine's incursion had been halted, Russia has thus far failed to push the Ukrainian forces back over the border.

Russian military bloggers said on Saturday the situation had stabilised after Russia rushed in forces to halt the surprise advance, though they said Ukraine was swiftly building up forces.
The Ukrainian attack has prompted some in Moscow to question why Ukraine was able to pierce the Kursk region so easily after more than two years of the most intense land war in Europe since World War Two.
"A full scale military operation is underway against a very serious enemy who are certainly not idiots," said Yuri Podolyaka, a popular Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger. He said that Russian aviation had saved the day by pummeling scores of invading Ukrainian units, but also said the truth should be told about the gravity of the situation.

U.S. SUPPORT. . .
Ukraine has not commented directly on the attack but video posted on Ukrainian media purported to show Ukrainian soldiers in control of a gas measuring facility in the border town of Sudzha, where Russian natural gas flows into Ukraine for transit to Europe.

Reuters could not verify the video.

Reports from Russian sources said Ukraine was in control of some areas of Sudzha.
Gas was still flowing through the pipeline on Saturday.

Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), ordered an anti-terrorist regime be imposed on Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions - which have a combined area of nearly 92,000 square km.

The measures essentially give the security services sweeping powers to lockdown an area, including controls on communications and limits on a host of usual freedoms. Thousands of civilians have been evacuated from Kursk region.

Some reports said Ukrainian forces were pushing towards the Kursk nuclear power station, which supplies a major chunk of southern Russia's electricity. It has a total six reactors, two shutdown, two under construction and two operational.

The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said drone debris had fallen on a power substation near Kurchatov, the town which serves the Kursk nuclear station, which said it was operating as normal on Saturday.

The head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency noted the "significant military activity" in the area and called for restraint.
Russian diplomats in Vienna told the IAEA that fragments, possibly from downed missiles, had been found, though there was no evidence of an attack on the station.

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The Russian Border Incursion
Russia resists troop shifts as Ukrainian Kursk incursion threatens Donetsk offensive

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US based think tank, in its Aug 09 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment assessed that The Russian military command appears to be relying on existing units deployed to the international border area and readily available forces in the rear, most of which are units staffed with conscripts and irregular forces, to address the ongoing Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast.

These units would likely be the first to respond even if the Russian military command has decided to transfer additional, more experienced units from elsewhere in the theatre.

The Russian military command may currently be resisting operational pressures to redeploy forces from other operational directions to prevent the Ukrainian incursion from disrupting Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed on August 9 that it sent additional multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), artillery, and heavy tracked vehicles to strengthen forces in Sudzha Raion, and Russian milbloggers amplified footage showing additional Russian forces arriving in Kursk Oblast.

Russian conscripts, FSB border guards, and elements of Chechen "Akhmat" Spetsnaz units operating under the Russian MoD were reportedly operating in Kursk Oblast as of the beginning of the Ukrainian incursion.

The Russian military command has reportedly transferred forces from

unspecified operational reserves,

additional units staffed by conscripts,

Spetsnaz (Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff [GRU]),

Special Operations Forces (SSO),

additional Chechen "Akhmat" Spetsnaz operating under the Russian MoD, and

the 1st Donetsk People's Republic Army Corps (DNR AC)

and former Wagner Group personnel to unspecified areas of Kursk Oblast to defend against further Ukrainian advances and retake territory.

A Kremlin-affiliated Russian milblogger claimed that

the Russian military command has tasked Russian Spetsnaz and SSO forces with "clearing" the breakthrough zone and pushing Ukrainian forces back across the international border, and
several Russian milbloggers expressed confidence that Russian Spetsnaz forces are likely the most capable Russian forces to respond to Ukrainian mechanised manoeuvre.

The Russian military command may currently be transferring more experienced and better-provisioned frontline units from eastern or southern Ukraine to Kursk Oblast, but it would likely take additional time for such units to arrive in Kursk Oblast.

What is being said and what is observable regarding the situation in Kursk

Russia redeployed troops armor and artillery to the Kursk region as a result of Ukraine’s border incursion Reuters reported on the evening of Aug 09.
Meanwhile while the AFU still has not commented publicly on the operation video evidence is emerging that Ukrainian forces are operating well inside Russia.

Ukrainian sources published a video purporting to show them in control of a town near the border, the first pictorial evidence of their cross-border advances.

In new evidence of the damage inflicted in the Ukrainian counter-offensive, another video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed a convoy of about 15 burnt-out Russian military trucks spaced out along a highway in the Kursk region. Some contained dead bodies.
The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said drone debris had fallen on a power substation near Kurchatov, site of one of Russia's largest nuclear power stations with four reactors.

Power to the area was cut for a time.

The Ukrainian military's General Staff made no comment.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has maintained a strict silence on the operation, though he dropped some clear hints on Thursday, without referring to Kursk.
He praised his army's ability "to surprise".

And in his nightly video address, he thanked army units who had taken Russian servicemen prisoner, to be used in later negotiations.

"This is extremely important and has been particularly effective over the past three days," he said.

Early on Saturday, Russian news agencies said the National Anti-Terrorism Committee had imposed anti-terror measures in Kursk region and in nearby Bryansk and Belgorod regions.
Two days after Military Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin that the advance had been halted, Russia's defense ministry said its forces "continue to repel an attempted invasion by the Armed Forces of Ukraine".

The map shown below references the current size of the Kursk incursion as opposed to the Russia’s invasion into Northern Kharkiv several months ago (bottom right)

The Ukrainian video purported to show Ukrainian forces in control of a gas measuring facility run by Russian concern Gazprom in the town of Sudzha.

"The town is controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the town is calm, all buildings are intact," a soldier in the video said, adding that the "strategic Gazprom facility" was under the control of a Ukrainian battalion.

Reuters could not verify this video and the Ukrainian military's General Staff made no comment. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has maintained a strict silence on the operation, though he dropped some clear hints on Thursday, without referring to Kursk.

Ben Barry, land warfare analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that

while its wider strategic goals remained unclear,
Ukraine had exposed Russian shortcomings and
overturned the conventional wisdom on the war that neither side could advance without heavy losses.

"They clearly have achieved a degree of surprise which suggests that Russia's ability to do intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is inadequate," he said in a phone interview.

There were unconfirmed reports from Russian sources of Ukrainians pushing as deep as 35 km (22 miles) from the border.

Ukrainian incursion 'threat' to Kursk nuclear power plant — Rosatom

Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom said that Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region poses a "direct threat" to the region's nuclear power plant. DW reports.

"The actions of the Ukrainian army created a direct threat not only to the Kursk nuclear power plant, but to the entire nuclear energy industry," Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev was cited by Russian state news agency RIA as saying.

He made the comments during a call with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IARA), Rafael Grossi.

"At the moment there is a real danger of strikes and provocations by the Ukrainian army," Rosatom said in a separate statement.

At least 16,000 civilians have been evacuated from border areas due to the Ukrainian incursion.

Rafael Grossi, IAEA chief, called for "maximum restraint" to prevent a disaster at a nearby nuclear plant. Russia said fragments, possibly from downed missiles, were found at the site.

Unverified video claims new Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Belgorod Oblast

A video circulating on Ukrainian Telegram channels Saturday morning appears to show Ukrainian military personnel in Belgorod Oblast of Russia. Euromaidan Press reports.

This follows ongoing combat in Russia’s Kursk Oblast since 6 August after a Ukrainian incursion, leading to widespread panic and disorganised evacuations.

Details on troop numbers, objectives, and the strategic rationale remain unclear.

The unverified footage depicts several individuals in Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) uniforms posing with Ukrainian and Georgian flags in front of a building with a sign for a community centre in the village of Poroz. This village is located in the Grayvoronsky district of Belgorod Oblast, approximately two kilometres from the Ukrainian border.