The Russian army continued to battle Ukrainian soldiers for the third day on Thursday. Ukrainian troops broke through the Russian border in the Kursk region. According to Russian officials, in one of the largest Ukrainian assaults on Russia in the two-year-old conflict, nearly 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers infiltrated the Russian border on the morning of August 6th with tanks and armored vehicles, surrounded by drones in the air and heavy artillery.
Reports of intense fighting have emerged near the town of Sudzha, a critical transit point for Russia's natural gas flowing into Ukraine, raising concerns of a sudden halt in transit to Europe. Nearly two and a half years after President Vladimir Putin sent his forces into Ukraine in February 2022, this intrusion comes as a significant shock to Russia.
Putin has called the Ukrainian assault a 'major provocative act'. Kremlin-loyal politician Sergei Mironov labeled it a 'terrorist attack' and an 'assault on recognized international territory'.
'Residents Are Being Evacuated...'
Kursk's acting regional governor, Alexei Smirnov, mentioned that thousands of residents are being evacuated. The White House stated that the U.S. had no prior knowledge of the attack and would seek more information from Kyiv. On Thursday, Russia's Defense Ministry said that the military and the Federal Security Service (FSB) had halted the Ukrainian advance and were combating Ukrainian units in the Kursk region.
Source: aajtak
The ministry indicated that the Northern Group of Forces, in coordination with Russia's FSB, continues to destroy the armed formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Sudzhensky and Korenevsky districts, adjacent to the Russian-Ukrainian border, within the Kursk region.
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The Ukrainian military remained silent on the Kursk assault, although President Zelensky praised the Ukrainian army on Thursday for its ability to 'surprise and achieve outcomes' without specifically mentioning Kursk.
A Delicate Turning Point in the War
Ukraine's Energy Minister stated that gas transit through Sudzha is still operational. Although most European Union countries have reduced their dependency on Russian gas, Austria remains reliant on this transit route.
Source: aajtak
Ukraine's Concerns
These battles come at a critical juncture, marking Europe’s largest land war since World War II. Kyiv fears that if Republican Donald Trump secures victory in the November presidential election, U.S. support might dwindle.
Trump has stated that he would end the conflict, with both Russia and Ukraine eager to secure the strongest possible bargaining positions on the battlefield. Ukraine aims to halt Russian forces that control 18 percent of its territory.
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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev commented that Ukraine's attack was an effort to compel Russia to divert resources and to demonstrate to the West that Ukraine is still capable of fighting. Following the Kursk assault, he suggested that Russia should expand its war objectives to occupy all of Ukraine entirely.
