Russian forces battled Ukrainian troops for a third day on Thursday after they pushed into Russia’s Kursk region, in a brazen assault on the world’s largest nuclear power that forced Moscow to call up reservists.
In one of the largest Ukrainian attacks on Russia in the two-year war, about 1,000 Ukrainian troops breached the Russian border in the early hours of Aug. 6 with tanks, armored vehicles, swarms of drones and artillery, according to Russian officials.
Ukrainian forces pushed into border fields and forests north of the town of Sudzha, the last remaining operational transit point for Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack a “major provocation.”
The White House said the United States, Ukraine’s biggest backer, had no prior knowledge of the attack and was seeking more details from Kyiv.
Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, told Putin on Wednesday that the Ukrainian offensive had stopped in the border area.
But several pro-Russian military bloggers confirmed that fighting was continuing today with the evacuation of civilians.
Russian forces stop Ukrainian units
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday that the Russian military stopped and destroyed attempts by units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to break through the area in the direction of Kursk.
The Russian Defense Ministry said: “Units of the Northern Group of Forces, in cooperation with the Russian Federal Security Service, continue to destroy armed formations of Ukrainian troops in the Sudzhinsky and Korynivsky districts of the Kursk region, which are directly adjacent to the Russian-Ukrainian border.”
The statement added: “The concentrations of manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian troops were targeted with fire, and attempts to break through individual units deep into the area in the direction of Kursk were stopped.”
The Ukrainian military has remained silent about the Kursk offensive.
Some Russian bloggers have criticized the state of the border defense in the Kursk region, saying it is too easy for Ukrainian forces to break through.
Medvedev: Russia must expand its goals
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the Ukrainian offensive was an attempt by Kiev to force Russia to withdraw its forces from the main front lines and show the West that it is still capable of fighting.
He added that as a result of this offensive, Russia should expand its war goals to include all of Ukraine.
“From this moment on, the special military operation should expand beyond the territorial borders of Ukraine,” he continued, adding that Russian troops should go to Odessa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kyiv and “beyond.”
Podolyak: Kursk events will have a positive impact
Earlier, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said that military operations like the one in Kursk will have a positive impact on possible negotiations with the Russian Federation.
“Russia is ready to make some concessions only when the war does not go according to its plan. The Russians are not ready for any military unrest on their territory. The main goals of such hostilities are to inflict additional losses on the Russians, destroy more equipment, psychologically influence social strata, and spread fear,” he added.
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