08 August 2024

The Kursk Incursion

Russia has declared a state of emergency in Kursk and local officials told the Tass news agency that 3,000 civilians had been evacuated following an attack that has clearly caught Moscow off guard.
Russian military bloggers, currently the most accurate sources of information, reported that fighting was taking place on the highway east of Korenevo, 13 miles north of the border, while the western part of Sudzha, about six miles into Russia, appeared to be under Ukrainian control.

Russia battles Ukrainian troops for third day after shock incursion

  • Russia still battling Ukrainian troops in Kursk
  • Ukraine may have control of Sudzha - bloggers
  • Putin: this is a major Ukrainian provocation
  • Ukraine remains silent about situation
  • White House: we had no prior knowledge of attack
MOSCOW, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Russian forces were battling Ukrainian troops for a third day on Thursday after they smashed through the Russian border in the Kursk region, an audacious attack on the world's biggest nuclear power that has forced Moscow to call in reserves. . .
Russia battles Ukrainian troops for third day after shock incursion –  Euractiv
Ukraine's Kursk Incursion Aims to Distract Russian Forces Amid Setbacks on  Eastern Front – FT


The Kursk Incursion
The GSAFU stated the intensity of combat in the Sumy direction has increased. The enemy is actively applying aviation, helicopters, heavy weapons. However, with no success. Russia is suffering a significant loss. Ukrainian soldiers do everything possible to protect the civilian population.

ISW - Ukrainian Forces advance at least 10 km inside Kursk Oblast

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US based think tank, in its Aug 07 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment assessed that Ukrainian forces have made confirmed advances up to 10 kilometres into Russia's Kursk Oblast amid continued mechanized offensive operations on Russian territory on August 7. 
Geolocated footage published on August 6 and 7 shows that Ukrainian armored vehicles have advanced to positions along the 38K-030 route about 10 kilometres from the international border.
  • The current confirmed extent and location of Ukrainian advances in Kursk Oblast indicate that Ukrainian forces have penetrated at least two Russian defensive lines and a stronghold.

A Russian insider source claimed that Ukrainian forces have seized 45 square kilometres of territory within Kursk Oblast since they launched the operation on August 6, and other Russian sources reported that Ukrainian forces have captured 11 total settlements, including Nikolaevo-Daryino (1.5 kilometres north of the Sumy Oblast border), Darino (three kilometres north of the Sumy Oblast border), and Sverdlikovo (east of the Nikolaevo-Darino-Darino area), and are operating within Lyubimovka (eight kilometres north of the Sumy Oblast border).

  • Russian sources indicated that Ukrainian forces are trying to advance along the 38K-030 Sudzha-Korenovo highway, and a prominent Kremlin-affiliated milblogger claimed that by 1800 local time on August 7 Ukrainian forces had advanced both northwest and southeast along the highway and are now fighting on the outskirts of Korenovo (in the northwest direction) and Sudzha (in the southeast direction).

The Russian insider source and several other Russian sources reported that Ukrainian forces fought for and seized the Sudzha checkpoint and the Sudzha gas distribution station (southwest of Sudzha along the 38K-004 highway, 500 metres from the Sumy-Kursk Oblast border).

Geolocated imagery posted on August 7 shows that Ukrainian forces captured over 40 Russian prisoners of war (POWs) at the Sudzha checkpoint, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Russia service posted satellite imagery that shows heavy damage to buildings at the Sudzha checkpoint.

Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets reported on August 7 that an unspecified unit of the Chechyna-based 71st Motorized Rifle Regiment (58th Combined Arms Army [CAA], Southern Military District [SMD]) has deployed directly to the Sudzhenskyi Raion—generally consistent with some reports from Ukrainian and Russian sources that social media footage shows Chechen "Akhmat" units in the Sudzha area since over a week ago

Chechen units reportedly suffered very heavy losses in Ukrainian attacks in the Korenovo Raion on August 7.

Grumpy Here - Please keep in mind the situation on the ground changes and most of this information is now at least 12 hours old

The Kremlin's response to Ukrainian offensive activities in Kursk Oblast has so far been contradictory, as Russian officials are attempting to balance presenting the effort as a notable Ukrainian escalation with avoiding overstating its potential implications and risking domestic discontent.

Select Russian milbloggers heavily criticised the Russian military command for not detecting preparations for or preventing Ukrainian offensive operations into Kursk Oblast.

  • Several Russian milbloggers complained that Russian forces should have prevented the Ukrainian offensive operations into Kursk Oblast as Russian forces knew that Ukrainian forces had been accumulating forces and means in the area for the past several months.
Some of the milbloggers complained that the Russian military command's inadequate reaction was due to a lack of concern about the Ukrainian accumulations, unrealistic confidence in Russian defences in the border area, assumptions about Ukrainian forces' fatigue, or false reports about the situation.

A prominent Russian milblogger criticised Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov for not auditing the combat command system to remove ineffective commanders upon assuming his position as Minister of Defense and called for Russian authorities to punish incompetent commanders and liars. The milblogger further claimed that Ukrainian offensive operations in Kursk Oblast prove that the Russian military command made "strategic miscalculations" and that nepotism in the Russian military is protecting ineffective military officials.


Russia scrambles against Kursk incursion
The Russian Defence Ministry says its troops are "continuing to destroy" armed Ukrainian units using air strikes, rocket and artillery fire in the Kursk region, where Kyiv's forces made a significant incursion this week. DW reports.

Moscow says it is "thwarting attempts to break through" deeper.
A top official in Russia's Kursk region says fighting is continuing for a third day after Ukrainian troops smashed through the Russian border. 
  • The audacious attack has forced Moscow to call in reserves.
About 1,000 Ukrainian troops pushed through the frontier in the early hours of August 6 with tanks and armoured vehicles.
  • They were provided with cover by swarms of drones and pounding artillery, Russian officials said.
While Ukrainian officials haven't commented on the extent of the operation around the town of Sudzha, Kursk's acting deputy governor, Andrei Belostotsky said Russian forces are fighting to stop the Ukrainians from advancing further.

"The enemy has not advanced a single metre, on the contrary, it is retreating. The enemy's equipment and combat forces are being actively destroyed. We hope that in the near future ... the enemy will be stopped," state news agency RIA-Novosti reported Belostotsky as saying.

The independent US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), however, said that "Ukrainian forces have made confirmed advances up to 10 kilometres (six miles) into Russia's Kursk Oblast." [ed. - as of Aug 07]
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday described the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk as a "large-scale provocation."

Grumpy Here: Meanwhile, things are going fine, I’m sure…


Russians forced to close three railway stations in Kursk Oblast due to hostilities
Russian propaganda sources are reporting that Russian Railways, a Russian state-owned railway company, has temporarily closed the Sudzha, Korenevo, and Psel stations in Kursk Oblast to passengers due to ongoing hostilities. Ukrainska Pravda reports.
  • Local authorities are reportedly carrying out additional infrastructure inspections and briefing staff in order to ensure traffic safety in Kursk Oblast.
Earlier, Russia's Defence Ministry confirmed the advance of supposedly Ukrainian forces in two districts of Kursk Oblast and noted that it had moved reserves to the border and was "attacking Ukrainian troops from the air".

Russia battles Ukrainian troops for third day after shock incursion | Arab  News
Battles rage in Kursk region after Ukraine's largest incursion yet into  Russia

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