A damaged house in the town of Sudzha in the Kursk region in southwest Russia, August 6, 2024
Tuesday’s Coverage: Russian Political Prisoner Dies From Hunger Strike
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1508 GMT:
At least three civilians were killed and 23 wounded over the past day by Russian attacks across 13 Ukrainian regions.
Two of the fatalities were in the Zaporizhzhia region and the other in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.
UPDATE 1455 GMT:
Vladimir Putin has described Ukraine’s raid into the Kursk region in southwest Russia as a “large-scale provocation”, saying he will discuss it with top security officials.
Russian bloggers said Putin would meet the State Security Council at 1 p.m. Moscow time, but there was no official confirmation.
Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov said he had reported the operational situation to Putin. Civilians were being evacuated, and 300 people were housed in temporary accommodation overnight.
UPDATE 0919 GMT:
Russian military observers on Telegram say Ukrainian forces have advanced at least 15 km (9.3 miles) into the Kursk region in southwest Russia, and may have occupied up to 11 settlements along a 10-km (6-mile) front.
The Rybar channel, linked to the Russian military, says there are up to 400 Ukrainians in the region, with battles in Oleshnya, where “Russian servicemen are almost completely surrounded”, and Goncharovka The width of the front, according to his estimates, is about 10 kilometers.
The channel said Ukraine is deploying more reserves, concentrating up to 2,000 troops along the border.
The military observers say the Ukrainians have remotely mined a highway. Electricity and communications are out in certain areas.
Residents are fleeing, but the district administration says evacuation has been impeded by shelling.
UPDATE 0731 GMT:
Ukraine air defenses downed all 14 Iran-type attack drones fired overnight by Russia on the Mykolaiv region in the south of the country.
There were no casualties.
A Russian ballistic missile was intercepted early Wednesday over the Sumy region in northern Ukraine.
UPDATE 0717 GMT:
Ukrainian military intelligence agency HUR says special forces destroyed Russian “equipment, personnel, and fortifications” in a raid of the Tendra Spit off the coast of the occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine.
An amphibious special forces group landed on the spit overnight and destroyed Russian armored vehicles, including MT-LB amphibious personnel carriers, as well as electronic warfare systems and the fortifications, the HUR statement claimed.
It said the exact number of Russian casualties is being determined.
UPDATE 0701 GMT:
Niger’s military junta has followed its counterpart in Mali in cutting diplomatic links with Ukraine.
Like Mali’s leadership, Niger cited remarks by a Ukrainian official indicating support for an ambush by Tuareg rebels killing scores of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries and 17 Malian troops in late July.
Both juntas are supported by Russian military intervention, including the Wagner mercenaries.
UPDATE 0616 GMT:
The Kremlin has forced Maria Andreyeva, a leading Russian anti-war activist, to quit campaigning.
Andreyeva has been prominent in a group of wives and mothers, “Put Domoy” (Way Home), calling for the return of forcibly-mobilized men from the frontlines in Ukraine.
She says she was fired from her place of employment and labelled a “foreign agent”.
“Unfortunately I have to go into the shadows,” Andreyeva explained.
UPDATE 0613 GMT:
At least one civilian was killed and 12 injured, including an 8-month-old baby, in a Russian ballistic missile attack on a residential area of the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.
A medical clinic was among numerous buildings damaged.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s forces have reportedly carried out a raid into the Kursk region in southwest Russia.
Around 300 troops supported by tanks and armored vehicles launched a cross-border attack on Tuesday. Fighting was reported up to six miles inside Russia, between the border villages of Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya and reaching the outskirts of Sudzha. Photographs showed strikes on Russian trailers loaded with tanks.
The Russian Defense Ministry said:
The enemy today launched another attempt to break into the territory of Russia’s Kursk region.
Artillery fire, army aviation strikes and drone strikes are being inflicted on the enemy.
The Ministry deleted an earlier post declaring that a “Ukrainian sabotage group” had suffered heavy losses and retreated into Ukraine.
Ukrainian leaders and the Defense Ministry did not immediately comment. However, a junior official, Andrii Kovalenko, confirmed the attack and said it had not been repelled: “Russian soldiers are lying about the controllability of the situation in the Kursk region. Russia does not control the border.”
In December and in March, three pro-Ukraine Russian militias — the Freedom of Russia Legion, the Siberia Battalion, and the Russian Volunteer Corps — carried out cross-border raids. They overran Russian border checkpoints and fought in settlements.
In video statements, the militias declared the objective of toppling the Kremlin’s leaders:
Russians will sleep soundly, will no longer be afraid of the ringing of the doorbell and will be able to say what they think without fear.
Russians will vote for who they want, not who they dictate.
Russians will live freely.
