UKRAINIANS ADVANCE INTO KURSK OBLAST
⚡HOLY F#:$#^: RUSSIA LINES COLLAPSE, PUTIN CALLS EMERGENCY MEETING, HUGE WEAPONS SHIPMENTS TO IRAN
The situation in Kursk is critical: Ukrainian lightning advance continues - Kiev prepares three Brigades for the second wave of attack
Kursk in state of emergency – Ukraine evacuates 6,000 people from Sumy
The situation in Kursk is extremely critical according to Russian journalists and analysts as the lightning-fast Ukrainian advance continues for a second 24 hours.
The Russians officially speak of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers who managed to advance 20-25 kilometers deep into the Russian territory of Kursk, occupying a series of settlements on an area of 350 m²
But – this is the most important thing – in Sumy there are an additional 3 Ukrainian Brigades on standby. The entire area will turn into a battlefield. Precisely for this reason, the Ukrainians are starting to evacuate the civilian population from 23 regions of Sumy.
According to Russian sources, the Ukrainians occupied the settlements:
Gornal', Guevo, Kurilovka, Oleshnya, Rubanshchina, Honcharivka, Lebedevka, Aleksandriya, Leonidovo, Zelenyi Shlyakh, Tolstyi Lug, Luybimovka, Pokrovskii and Obukhovka.
According to Rybar, all the weight currently falls on the defense of Korenevo, which is in immediate danger. The Russian Air Force is constantly operating on the Korenevo-Sunja axis. In Sundza, heavy fighting is taking place in the center of the city.
The objective goal of the Ukrainians seems to be the withdrawal of Russian forces from Kharkiv and the creation of a Security Zone on the border. It is possible that their goal is even more ambitious...
Kiev is preparing three Brigades for the second wave of attack
Russian war correspondent Sladkov reported a while ago:
"The situation in the border area of the Kursk region is worsening. The night will reveal a lot. The enemy is copying our movement towards the town of Volchansk and the village of Liptsy.
Reconnaissance teams of the Armed Forces of Ukraine identified weak areas and the enemy quickly threw a second echelon into the fray.
In the area of Sumi, the enemy has gathered three brigades. The best at the moment. The enemy's strike force is located in the city of Glukhov.
From Glukhov, it is easy to proceed to the city of Rylsk. At the same time, other Ukrainian forces have gone to the city of Sunja from two sides, surrounding it (5 km from the border). They may bypass it and head for the city of Korenev or the city of Kursk.
The enemy is positioned on the road to the city of Korenev and on the road to the city of Kursk. It will be difficult for us to move reserves. The enemy's intentions are unclear.
Currently, there are about a thousand Ukrainians in the border area of the Kursk region, and the reserves are located in the Sumy region. Enemy troops are well covered by air defense and electronic warfare. Everything is calculated. The enemy is insidious and powerful.
Rivers, forests, ravines. The enemy is easily camouflaged. We are forced to form new lines of defense. The enemy is on the outskirts of the city of Sunja. We may have to compromise the reserves, which will logically rush to the city of Sunja.
The enemy hits the border area of the Belgorod region. They will not advance on our territory — behind them are our troops in the city of Volchansk and near the village of Liptsy. They will continue to bomb the city of Belgorod.
Kursk region and Belgorod region are a single enterprise for Kyiv.
Kursk in state of emergency – Ukraine evacuates around 6,000 people across border – Heavy casualties
A state of emergency has been declared in Russia's Kursk region, interim governor Alexei Smirnov announced via the Telegram app. In this area, in southern Russia, forces of the Ukrainian army penetrated on Tuesday.
"The operational situation remains difficult in the border zones. In order to limit the consequences of the invasion of enemy forces, I decided to declare a state of emergency ," Smirnov said.
Ukraine today ordered the evacuation of about 6,000 people from Ukrainian border areas near Russia's Kursk region after Ukrainian forces attacked there, the governor of the Sumy province said.
"The order I just signed provides for the mandatory evacuation of people from 23 locations" in Sumy province, Governor Volodymyr Artyukh said. "There are about 6,000 people, including 425 children," in those locations he said.
Kursk: "Up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers are participating in the attack," Gerasimov revealed
The head of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said today that "up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers took part in the raid that took place yesterday in the Kursk region" , on the border with Ukraine. Gerasimov also said Russian forces were still "destroying the enemy" in areas near the border.
"The enemy's advance deep into [Russian] territory was stopped by air and artillery strikes ," Gerasimov assured President Vladimir Putin during a meeting broadcast on Russian television.
It is noted that yesterday, Valery Gerasimov visited positions controlled by his troops in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced today. "The Chief of the General Staff listened to the commanders' reports (...) He drew conclusions from them and set tasks for future actions ," the ministry says in its announcement.
Earlier, Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian incursion into the Russian Kursk region is a big challenge. "The Kiev regime has launched another major provocation," Putin told members of the Russian government over the Kursk attack, then added that Ukrainian forces had conducted " indiscriminate shelling of civilian" targets in the Russian periphery.
The Ukrainians captured the Sunja gas station
Gazprom will continue sending natural gas through Ukraine to Europe tomorrow Thursday, Ukraine's gas transit operator said today, amid reports that Kiev forces have seized the Russian company's metering station near the border town of Sunja.
Data from Ukraine's managing company showed that 41.6 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas are expected to flow from Russia to Europe via Ukraine tomorrow Thursday.
Gazprom said it will send 39.4 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine today, up from 42.4 mcm sent on Tuesday
Ukraine's gas transit operator said earlier today that Russian gas would continue to flow through Ukraine despite reports of fighting near the Russian city of Sunja.
Currently, about 42 million cubic meters of natural gas pass through Sunja every day. The total annual transit volume is approximately 14 billion cubic meters.
Two Russian military blogs reported that Ukrainian forces seized a natural gas metering facility in Sunja, through which Russian gas flows.
The Sunja natural gas transfer and metering stations in the Kursk region of Russia are the only point of entry of Russian natural gas into the Ukrainian natural gas transmission system for onward transport to Europe.
Russia battles Ukrainian troops for third day after shock incursion
August 9,
Summary
Russia still battling Ukrainian troops in Kursk
Ukraine may have control of Sudzha - bloggers
Putin: this is a major Ukrainian provocation
Ukraine remains silent about situation
White House: we had no prior knowledge of attack
MOSCOW, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Russian forces were battling Ukrainian troops for a third day on Thursday after they smashed through the Russian border in the Kursk region, an audacious attack on the world's biggest nuclear power that has forced Moscow to call in reserves.
In one of the biggest Ukrainian attacks on Russia of the two-year-old war, around 1,000 Ukrainian troops rammed through the Russian border in the early hours of Aug. 6 with tanks and armoured vehicles, covered in the air by swarms of drones and pounding artillery, according to Russian officials.
Heavy fighting was reported near the town of Sudzha, where Russian natural gas flows into Ukraine, raising concerns about a possible sudden stop to transit flows to Europe.
The incursion has come as a shock to Russia, nearly two-and-a-half years since President Vladimir Putin sent his army into Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin has cast the Ukrainian offensive as a "major provocation". Sergei Mironov, leader of a Kremlin-loyal political party, called it a "terrorist attack" and "the invasion of an internationally recognised foreign territory".
Kursk's regional acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, said that thousands of residents had been evacuated.
The White House said the United States - Ukraine's biggest backer - had no prior knowledge of the attack. Washington has asked Ukraine for details on their military objectives, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, on Thursday.
"They are operating within the area north of the border where we have told them they can use U.S.-provided weapons to defend themselves against Russian attacks," the official noted.
Russia's defence ministry said on Thursday that the army and the Federal Security Service (FSB) had halted the Ukrainian advance and were battling Ukrainian units in the Kursk region.
"Units of the Northern group of forces, together with the FSB of Russia, continue to destroy armed formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Sudzhensky and Korenevsky districts of the Kursk region, directly adjacent to the Russian-Ukrainian border," the ministry said.
The Ukrainian military has remained silent on the Kursk offensive, though President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the Ukrainian army on Thursday for its ability "to surprise" and achieve results. He did not explicitly reference Kursk.
Some Russian bloggers said Ukraine's forces were pushing towards the Kursk nuclear power station, which lies about 60 km (37 miles) northeast of Sudzha.
Item 1 of 4 An aerial view shows what is said to be a Russian army strike on Ukrainian ammunition concealed in the area bordering Ukraine in the Kursk Region, Russia, in this still image from video released August 8, 2024. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
[1/4]An aerial view shows what is said to be a Russian army strike on Ukrainian ammunition concealed in the area bordering Ukraine in the Kursk Region, Russia, in this still image from video released August 8, 2024. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
Yuri Podolyaka, a popular Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, said that there were intense battles about 30 km (20 miles) from the Soviet-era nuclear plant, which supplies a large swathe of southern Russia with power.
CRITICAL JUNCTURE
Ukraine's energy minister said gas transit via Sudzha was still functioning, despite reports of hostilities there. Most EU nations have reduced their dependence on Russian gas, but Austria is one country that still receives most of its gas via Ukraine.
The Center for Information Resilience, a non-profit open-source analysis organisation, said it was unable to visually confirm any damage to the gas metering station as a result of the incursion, but had verified significant damage to the border checkpoint about 500 metres (550 yards) to the south.
"This, combined with footage verified by CIR of several Russian soldiers surrendering to Ukrainian soldiers near the entrance of the gas metering plant, makes it likely that the plant has been affected by the Ukrainian incursion, however, the level of damage cannot be verified at this time," it said.
The battles come at a crucial juncture in the conflict, the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two. Kyiv is concerned that U.S. support could weaken if Republican Donald Trump wins the November presidential election.
Trump has said he would end the war, and both Russia and Ukraine are keen to gain the strongest possible bargaining position on the battlefield.
Ukraine wants to pin down Russian forces, which control 18% of its territory, though the strategic significance of the border offensive was not immediately clear.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the Ukrainian attack was an attempt to force Russia to divert resources from the front and to show the West that Ukraine could still fight.
As a result of the Kursk attack, Medvedev said, Russia should expand its war aims to include taking all of Ukraine.
"From this moment on, the SVO (Special Military Operation) should acquire an openly extraterritorial character," Medvedev said, adding that Russian forces should go to Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Mykolayiv, Kyiv "and beyond".
"We will stop only when we consider it acceptable and profitable for ourselves."