Ukrainian army gains foothold in Russia’s Kursk region on day three of unprecedented cross-border offensive

Ukraine’s raid into Russia’s Kursk region has stretched into a third day. While pro-Ukraine militia groups like the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps have carried out small-scale operations on Russian territory in the past, this is the first time the Ukrainian Armed Forces have launched this kind of cross-border offensive. Videos from eyewitnesses suggest that Ukrainian forces have reached the outskirts of Sudzha and are focusing their efforts on capturing the town in full. Here’s what we know as of Thursday evening.

The Ukrainian army’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region entered its third day on Thursday and shows no sign of slowing down. Russian pro-war bloggers report that Ukrainian troops have entered the border town of Sudzha, though videos posted by local residents indicate that Ukrainian forces had only reached the town’s outskirts as of Thursday morning. Clips from the town center show neither Ukrainian troops nor Russian ones. The Telegram channel Rybar, which is run by a former Russian Defense Ministry employee, writes that “isolated pockets of resistance” remain but that the town itself is “practically under the full control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” The ring road to the northeast of the city is reportedly also controlled by Ukrainian units.

Meanwhile, according to unconfirmed reports from Rybar, Ukrainian troops have established a foothold in several settlements to the north and west of Sudzha, though this has not been independently confirmed. Videos posted by local residents on Thursday show Ukrainian units in the northeastern outskirts of Sudzha, along the road leading to Kursk.

The pro-war Telegram channel Two Majors, which is generally critical of the Russian Defense Ministry, reported fighting in the Kursk region’s Korenevsky District, including near the settlement of Korenevo, though this is also unconfirmed. The channel also said Ukrainian forces were engaged in combat near the village of Anastasyevka in the Lgovsky District (28 kilometers, or 17 miles, north of Sudzha).

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Russian troops “thwarted attempts [by the Ukrainian army] to break through” further into the Kursk region. In a statement released Thursday morning, the ministry said that Russia’s military and Federal Security Service (FSB) “continue to eliminate Ukrainian armed formations in the Sudzha and Korenevsky districts of the Kursk region.” “Fire damage is being inflicted on accumulations of Ukrainian personnel and equipment that have been identified,” the agency wrote.

The Russian Defense Mininstry also reported that Ukraine has lost up to 400 soldiers and 32 armored vehicles, including one tank, in the region in the last day. Since the start of the incursion, according to the ministry, Ukraine has lost 660 soldiers and 82 armored vehicles, including eight tanks. These numbers have not been independently verified. The Ministry also mentioned the Kursk region in its daily briefing for the first time on Thursday, saying that Russian forces had struck Ukrainian troops near Darino (a settlement near the Kursk region’s border with Ukraine).

According to unconfirmed reports from Russian pro-war bloggers, the Russian authorities are dispatching Wagner Group forces to the Kursk region. The first of these reports came from small Telegram channels on Thursday morning. Then, in the afternoon, Two Majors reported that “Wagner, as part of several Defense Ministry units, is engaging in combat” in the Kursk region. A Wagner Group fighter also told the TV channel RTVI that Wagner mercenaries from Mali were being redeployed to the Kursk region. These reports have not been confirmed.

Zelensky administration advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said Thursday that Russia is “hypocritically insisting on the inviolability” of its own territory. This was the first time the Ukrainian authorities have mentioned the Kursk region since the AFU’s incursion began two days ago. Without mentioning the Ukrainian army’s offensive specifically, Podolyak said that the “reason for the disruption of normal life,” including in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, is Russia’s aggression. “Russia has always believed that international law doesn’t apply to it, and that it can therefore attack neighboring countries with impunity while hypocritically insisting on […] the inviolability of its own territory. But war has its own rules, and the aggressor always reaps the corresponding consequences,” Podolyak said.

Though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has yet to comment directly on the offensive in the Kursk region, on Thursday he said: “Everyone sees that the Ukrainian army can surprise. And that it knows how to achieve results.” His comments came during an event dedicated to the launch of the AFU’s new Army+ app, which is designed to reduce paperwork for the military.

The Kursk regional authorities asserted Thursday that the Ukrainian army “has not advanced a single meter and is, on the contrary, retreating.” This claim came from the region’s acting deputy governor, Andrey Belostotsky, and has not been confirmed. On Wednesday evening, Acting Kursk Governor Alexey Smirnov declared a state of emergency and said that the situation in the border areas “remained difficult.”

According to Belostotsky, about 3,000 civilians have been evacuated from the border areas in the Kursk region. Videos uploaded by Sudzha residents show them trying to evacuate on their own, with no sign of any assistance from the authorities. Later in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised compensation payments of 10,000 rubles ($115) to Kursk region residents who have been affected by the incursion.

Residents of the Kursk region’s Sudzhansky district who fled their homes due to Ukraine’s cross-border offensive have released a video message in which they asked Vladimir Putin for help:

Our relatives, our husbands and neighbors, are defending the Donbas. We’ve lost our land, we’ve lost our homes, and we fled under fire, many of us without documents. We want to ask for your help. We’re left all alone. We got used to the shelling, we supported the special military operation, we helped our army and have continued to do so since the very start of the special military operation. [...] Our loved ones were left there, and we can’t get in touch with them. Please, help us get our land back.

One resident accused officials of lying about the situation on the ground:

Please, Mr. Putin, tell your officials who are responsible for accurate information to show the real situation. Because these lies are causing civilians to die. Not long ago, the Chief of the General Staff reported to you that the situation is under control, but as of today, there are intense battles underway in the Sudzhansky District.

Moscow Railway announced that it has temporarily closed its Sudzha, Korenevo, and Psel stations. Outside of the Sudzhansky and Korenevsky districts, however, trains are still operating normally. Against the backdrop of Ukraine’s offensive, the Kursk regional administration’s online resources were targeted by a massive DDoS attack, its press service reported. The Russian Digital Development Ministry said that the attack was successfully repelled.

Acting Deputy Governor Andrey Belostotsky reported Thursday that four people in the Kursk region have died as a result of Ukraine’s offensive, while Governor Alexey Smirnov has reported at least five civilian deaths in recent days. According to the Russian Health Ministry, 34 people have been hospitalized due to shelling in the region, including five children as well as pro-war blogger Yevgeny Poddubny.

The E.U. has said that Ukraine has the right to carry out strikes against Russian troops on Russian territory. This statement came from European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday. Asked about the situation in the Kursk region, Stano said that “under its legal right to self-defense, Ukraine can carry out strikes against its enemy anywhere it considers necessary, both on its own territory and on enemy territory.” He continued: “Ukrainian is repelling illegal aggression. This means that Ukraine is conducting a lawful defensive war.”

At a briefing on Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Russia has “violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty” since 2014 and that Kyiv makes its own decisions about its military operations. He also noted that Washington’s policy regarding Ukraine’s use of U.S.-supplied weapons on Russian territory has not changed. Miller said that Ukraine did not inform the U.S. in advance that it planned to launch an offensive on Russian territory, but that “it’s not unusual for the Ukrainians not to notify us of their exact tactics before they execute them.” He said the U.S. is now “in communication” with Ukraine about the operation.

Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, who was released in last week’s major prisoner swap between Russia and the West, said on Telegram that Vladimir Putin is to blame for the civilian deaths that have occurred in the Kursk region due to Ukraine’s incursion because he launched the war against Ukraine. “What’s happening in the Kursk region is awful. From the first day of the war, I’ve said that Putin would inevitably bring death and destruction to Russian territory and that our country would have to pay a high price for this bloody venture. And unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happened,” Yashin said.