Multiple sources report Ukraine sent its largest incursion force of regular Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) troops into the Russian Federation beginning Tuesday morning with continued drone attacks through Wednesday, and Kyiv’s strict silence on the operations has only thickened the fog of war.
Russian sources claimed that on Aug. 6, the AFU “executed a series of incursions into Russia’s Kursk Oblast,” according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
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“Both the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the Federal Security Service (FSB) reported on the same day that Russian border troops, along with FSB officers, repelled several Ukrainian raids, which involved a battalion-sized force of tanks and armored vehicles,” reported Ukrainska Pravda.
“Kyiv kept up air attacks on Russia’s Kursk border region on Wednesday,” with the Kremlin’s air defenses claiming four drones destroyed overnight, said the Russian MoD. This news comes one day after “Moscow accused Ukraine of targeting the area with an armored assault,” as Reuters reported on Aug. 7.
Direct military engagement between Ukrainian raiders and Russian units in the Kursk Oblast
Russia says about 300 Ukrainian infantry troops, accompanied by a dozen tanks and over 20 armored vehicles attacked Russian military units in Russia’s Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Ukraine.
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The Kremlin’s MoD said the incursions were made by Ukraine’s 22nd Mechanized Brigade, and that Russia had sent reserves on Tuesday to help fend off the assault by “hundreds of Ukrainian fighters supported by tanks from Kursk.” The MoD glossed over what may be Ukraine’s largest ground incursion into the Russian Federation during the war so far.
Official Russian social media accounts said the Ukrainian Ground Forces had attacked border units in two Kursk Oblast locations – Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya, both of which directly border Ukraine’s Sumy region, 13 km apart.
Kursk’s acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, said the situation was “controllable” in posts on Telegram on Wednesday, adding that emergency services were on “high alert.”
Smirnov also asked people to donate blood to replenish supplies.
By Wednesday morning, there were no reports of fighting between Kyiv and Moscow’s ground forces, according to most reports.
However, Smirnov and several Russian milbloggers claimed that “fighting is continuing in the border areas of the Sudzha and Korenevoy districts of Kursk Oblast,” according to an Ukrainska Pravda report.
“This information contradicts reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which say they have repelled the raids.”
Over the past 24-plus hours, the Kursk Oblast was under at least a dozen air raid alerts, according to Smirnov’s posts.
Five people were killed, including two ambulance crew members, with at least 20 wounded, among them 6 children, in the fighting that erupted on Tuesday, Russian officials said.
“Ukraine made no official comment, though there was evidence of some military action from its side of the border. Both Kyiv and Moscow say their attacks do not target civilians,” reported RFE/RL.
Ukraine regularly fires artillery and missiles into Russian territory. It has hit targets deep inside Russia with long-range attack drones, but infantry raids are rare, and not conducted by regular AFU units.
Forces describing themselves as voluntary paramilitaries fighting on Ukraine’s side inflicted minimal damage in a major incursion into parts of Belgorod and Kursk Oblasts this year. Yet the purpose of the raids remains unclear.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s general staff made no mention of any Ukrainian offensive operation inside Russia.
State media quoted the Kremlin’s FSB as saying that “Russian forces had dealt with an armed ‘provocation’ by Ukraine.”
The MoD claimed its forces repulsed the attacks using artillery fire, and aircraft – both manned and unmanned. It also claimed Ukrainian forces retreated after suffering unquantified losses along with Kyiv’s “reserves in the territory of the Sumy region.”
Russian officials said Kremlin aircraft struck the “concentration of manpower and equipment of the AFU” near several settlements in Sumy.
Local officials claimed on Wednesday, that “Ukrainian drones also targeted residential buildings in the border regions of Voronezh and Belgorod, with damage but no casualties reported,” as quoted by AFP.
The Ukrainian Ground Forces’ 22nd Mechanized Brigade did not comment on the claims but did say border settlements of the Sumy and Chernihiv regions continued to suffer from Russian shelling, reported RFE/RL.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces shot down a Russian helicopter, a ballistic missile, and two drones over the Sumy region on Aug. 6-7.
No Ukrainian official, military or civilian, has commented on any cross-border operations by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), only on activities and events occurring on Ukrainian lands or in Ukrainian skies.
In the reports from Reuters and RFE/RL, the agencies noted that there was no independent confirmation of the attacks, and they couldn't verify the battlefield accounts of either side.
The ISW’s Key Takeaways on Aug. 6, as quoted by Ukrainska Pravda:
- Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces conducted a series of cross-border raids into Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6.
- Russian milbloggers largely dismissed the supposed Ukrainian raids into Kursk Oblast, and Ukrainian officials have largely yet to comment on the raids.
- Russian Security Council Secretary and former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu have heavily exaggerated Russian advances in Ukraine since mid-June 2024.
- Russian officials continue coordination and military cooperation with Iran ahead of the Iranian retaliatory strike against Israel out of concern for Russian interests in the region.
- Armenia still abstains from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
- Russian forces advanced east of Toretsk.
- The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) reportedly issued a formal reply denying a request from the wives of the mobilized Russian personnel to meet with Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov.
Perspective of one pro-Kremlin Milblogger somewhere on the Russian side of the border, excerpted from Telegram
“Adequate Kharkiv resident” reported on his Telegram channel from the “Kursk-Belgorod section of the front, 9 a.m., Aug. 7.”
“I repeat on purpose: the breakthrough of [Ukrainian] tactical groups at the company-battalion level is connected with the Belgorod direction.
“The situation has worsened for the worse. The enemy brought a reserve into the battle. Another battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces arrived. The total number of the Ukrainian group breaking deep into the Kursk region is up to 900 people.
“My point of view: the [Ukrainian] enemy has two goals:
“1. To gain a foothold in villages closer to the regional center and turn the city of Sudzha into a second Vovchansk.
“2. Try to break through towards the Kurchatov Nuclear Power Plant. The Ukrainian Armed Forces fired rockets at Kurchatov at night. We shot down everything (TOR, ‘Pantsyr’).
“We lost two helicopters. K-52 and fire support helicopter.
“The AFU effectively supports the actions of ground troops with air defense systems (MANPADS and air defense systems).
“There is shelling of the Belgorod region. Direct hit on one of the substations.
“The enemy has penetrated 10 kilometers into the territory of the Kursk region. We are hitting the Sumy and Kharkov regions. The AFU launches packages of HAMMER missiles with cluster munitions. And the Alder MLRS.”
The Russian milblogger concluded his Aug 7 morning post: “Today will be hard. Much depends on actions on our part. The opponent showed his cards. Our move.”
The “opponent” – the Armed Forces of Ukraine – is keeping many cards hidden in the dark until they must be played.
No mention of Kursk or possible Belgorod activities in Zelensky’s nightly address on Aug. 6
“Today, I held a meeting of the Staff. Several issues,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said, outlining the topics discussed in the meeting.
“The first issue is, of course, the front, the report of the Commander-in-Chief – he took part in the meeting directly from the front line,” Zelensky referred to what Col. Gen. OleksandrSyrsky said behind closed doors.
“He is right there. He reported on all directions of our actions. And the toughest ones are the Pokrovsk and Toretsk directions, as well as the Kharkiv region and all other combat directions – we leave none of them neglected.”
The President, however, neglected to mention or comment on the “Kursk direction.”
Zelensky discussed the role of drones in Ukraine’s overall defense and commented on rescue operations following an attack in Kharkiv but did not mention cross-border operations in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, or Belgorod, ostensively to abide by operational security safeguards of ongoing combat missions.
Mum’s the word on Kursk and Belgorod at the state-owned Ukrinform news website
The state-owned Ukrinform website covered “all 136 combat clashes in 24 hours” on the front lines of the Russian-occupied areas within Ukraine but didn't mention operations across the northern border in Russia proper.
“Some 136 combat engagements occurred on the front lines in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, with the fiercest fighting ongoing in the Pokrovsk sector,” Ukrinform reported.
Andrii Kovaliov, a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, announced this on Ukrainian television, according to Ukrinform.
According to him, a lot of combat operations took place in Ukraine with no mention of cross-border raids the takeover of Russian villages, or the alleged rout suffered by the AFU.
Silence on Kursk operations at Interfax-Ukraine
“Ukrainian soldiers killed 1,230 Russian invaders, eight tanks, 29 armored vehicles, 67 artillery systems, 54 drones, one cruise missile, 99 units of cars and special equipment, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports on enemy losses over the day on Facebook.”
Again, Interfax-Ukraine revealed no state secrets.
Ukraine’s General Staff and the sound of silence
Rounding out the government’s adherence to strict OPSEC (operational security) requirements, Kyiv Post could not obtain any information from any official sources.
Kyiv Post was told by its sources at the HUR to “contact the General Staff.” When Kyiv Post journalists contacted the General Staff about the Kursk operations, the response was silence.
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