A state of emergency has been declared in the southeastern region due to fighting that erupted on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of a “major provocation” following Moscow’s reports of a significant cross-border attack in the southwestern Kursk region.
Alexey Smirnov, the acting governor of the region, announced that a state of emergency has been implemented amid two days of intense fighting.
Witnesses interviewed on Russian television said they had fled border areas in cars under drone fire. A priest in Sudzha, Evgeny Shestopalov, said in a video shared by Russian media, that the town of about 5,000 people was “on fire” and that residents unable to evacuate had taken shelter in his church.
The Ministry of Health reported that 31 civilians, including six children, were injured on Wednesday. The day before, Smirnov stated that five people had been killed as Ukrainian troops, supported by tanks and armored vehicles, breached the border.
Russia has not disclosed any information regarding military casualties.
“The Kyiv regime has launched another major provocation,” Putin said to Russian government officials on Wednesday, referring to the attack in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine’s northern Sumy region.
While Ukraine has not directly commented on the attack, Russia’s Ministry of Defence stated that Ukrainian forces were pushing northwest of the border town of Sudzha, located 530 km (330 miles) southwest of Moscow.
Russia reported using air and artillery fire to repel the attack throughout Wednesday and rushed reinforcements to the area. However, the extent of the damage and the depth of the Ukrainian advance remain unclear.
Various reports from Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers indicated that Ukrainian forces may have gained several kilometers. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, noted in its August 7 update that geolocated footage suggested Ukraine may have advanced as far as 10 km (6.2 miles) inside Russia, seemingly aiming to advance along the Sudzha-Korenovo highway. During a meeting with Putin, Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russia’s General Staff, claimed that Russian forces had halted an attack by as many as 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers—more than three times the figure reported by the Defence Ministry on Tuesday—and would push them back to the border.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not mention the events in Kursk during his nightly video address, and the General Staff omitted it from its daily battlefield update. However, a late evening report indicated that fighting had intensified in the Sumy region, where authorities had evacuated about 6,000 people.
The General Staff also reported that Russian forces had deployed aircraft, helicopters, and heavy weapons in the area but made no significant progress and suffered considerable losses.
In Washington, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre stated that the United States was seeking clarification from Ukraine regarding the incursion, asserting that it had no prior knowledge of the event. U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby emphasized that the U.S. had not changed its policy regarding Ukraine’s use of U.S.-supplied weaponry, which could only be used to target imminent threats just across the border. U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller remarked, “It is a little bit rich for them to call it a provocation, given Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
The clashes around Sudzha come as Russia announces gains along the front lines in eastern Ukraine, claiming to have captured 420 square kilometers (162 square miles) of territory from Ukrainian forces since June 14.
Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Pro-Kyiv forces, including Russian units fighting on Ukraine’s side such as the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion, have made several brief incursions into Russia since then.
