Russia retaliates against the Ukrainian military in the Kursk area

Following the largest invasion on Russian territory since the start of the war, Russian forces retaliated against Ukrainian forces on Tuesday by using missiles, drones, and aircraft. According to a senior commander, these efforts had stopped Ukraine’s progress.

One week ago, Ukrainian military broke across the Russian border in an unexpected assault that Russian President Vladimir Putin said was intended to strengthen Kyiv’s bargaining position ahead of potential negotiations and impede the Russian forces’ progress along the front.

Moscow was forced to evacuate at least 200,000 people as it rushed in reserves and enforced a security lockdown after Ukraine tore a portion of Russian land, exposing the vulnerability of Russia’s border defense.

Although they claimed that Russia was putting in troops and heavy equipment and had repulsed several of the Ukrainian advances, Russian war bloggers described fierce fighting throughout the Kursk front as Ukrainian forces attempted to extend their grip.

The Russian defense ministry released film showing soldiers overrunning Ukrainian fortifications and Sukhoi Su-34 warplanes attacking what it claimed to be Ukrainian forces in the Kursk border region.

“The enemy’s uncontrolled ride has already been stopped,” stated Chechen Akhmat special forces unit commander Major General Apti Alaudinov. “The enemy is already aware that the blitzkrieg that it planned did not work out.”

The town of Sudzha in Russia, which Russia uses to pump gas from Western Siberia via Ukraine and Slovakia and other countries in the European Union, was under unclear ownership. On Tuesday, Gazprom declared that it continued to supply gas to Ukraine via Sudzha.

Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of Kursk, stated on Monday that 28 communities in the area were under Ukrainian control, and the invasion was around 40 km in width and 12 km in depth.

Smirnov’s statistics are less than half of what Ukraine claimed to control—1,000 square kilometers, or 386 square miles—of Russian territory. The combat reports could not be independently corroborated by Reuters.

Both Kyiv and Moscow stand to lose from Ukraine’s bold gamble on breaking into the largest nuclear power in the world.

BORDER BET

Western leaders pledged to support Ukraine in defeating and expelling Russian forces from the country during their invasion in 2022. Large portions of territory were reclaimed by Ukraine in 2022.

Rugged Russian defenses have resisted Ukraine’s counteroffensive in 2023, though, and Russian soldiers have begun pushing more into Ukrainian territory this year.

At his home outside of Moscow in Novo-Ogaryovo, Putin assured high-ranking officials that Russia would drive out the Ukrainian soldiers and that Russia would provide a “worthy response.” He also claimed that Russian forces were advancing more quickly along other front lines.

Nevertheless, Putin, who seemed clearly irritated with at least one official at a televised meeting on Monday, and the Russian troops were embarrassed by the foreign takeover of Russian territory. Less than 25% of the land recognized as Ukraine by the international community is under Russian control.

The Kursk area has been exploited by Russia to conduct several strikes against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated to Ukrainians in his evening speech, making the operation in Russia an issue of Ukrainian security.

However, Ukraine risks leaving other areas of the front vulnerable by committing soldiers to Kursk at the same time as Russia is making progress. Russia may attempt to encircle Ukrainian soldiers since it has a significantly larger army.

Western supporters of Ukraine, who have been anxious to prevent the war from intensifying into a direct conflict between Russia and the NATO military alliance, which is headed by the United States, claimed to have had no previous notice of the assault.

According to Putin, the border breach was an attempt to jeopardize the stability of Russia inside, and that the West was using Ukraine as a proxy war against Russia.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed Zelenskiy was acting irrationally and running the risk of a situation that would escalate well beyond the boundaries of Ukraine.

According to local officials, 59,000 more people were in the process of being evacuated from Kursk, where 121,000 people had either fled or been evacuated. 11,000 inhabitants were also evacuated from the Belgorod region of Russia, which borders Kursk, according to the governor of the area.