What is happening with Ukraine’s incursion into Russia and how far has it got?
Ukraine launched a surprise incursion with armour and infantry into the Kursk and Belgorod regions of Russia on 6 August, involving thousands of troops amounting to 14 brigades.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, geolocated footage showed that Ukrainian forces had recently been conducting operations in Sudzha and northern Zaoleshenka.
Footage posted on social media appeared to show ambushes on rival columns around Sudzha, including on Ukrainian forces in the village of Giri.
The ISW said its assessment was that Ukrainian forces did not control all of the territory “within the maximalist extent” of claimed advances.
Smirnov said 121,000 people had been evacuated from their homes in the Kursk region, while 11,000 had been evacuated from Belgorod region.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Sunday that the incursion was designed “to put pressure on the aggressor Russia” and push “the war into the aggressor’s territory”.
Zelenskiy said thousands of strikes on Ukraine’s territory launched from Russia’s Kursk region deserved a fair response.
What is going on and how far along is Ukraine’s incursion into Russia?
On August 6, thousands of soldiers from 14 brigades from Ukraine launched an unexpected armored and infantry invasion of the Russian regions of Kursk and Belgorod. Though the attack’s exact details are still unknown, independent analysts have geolocated photos posted by Ukrainian troops to confirm claims about the attack’s extent, and both Moscow and Kyiv have now acknowledged the operation into Russian border regions.
In this video, Ukrainian soldiers can be seen raising the national flag in Guevo and removing the Russian flag from a Daryino building.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, asserted on Monday in his first remarks to the public about the operation that his country now controlled roughly 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) of the area.
The Russian side largely confirmed the claim. During a videoconference briefing on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed by Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of the Kursk region, that 28 Russian settlements, including towns and villages up to 18 miles (30 km) inside Russia, were under the control of Ukrainian forces.
A damaged bridge over the Seym River was captured on camera just outside the Kursk village of Glushkovo:.
Road and vehicle damage was visible in footage from Kursk’s Belovsky district:.
There have been reports of fresh incursions into western Kursk, northwest of the Ukrainian city of Sumy, despite statements made on Sunday by Russian military bloggers that the situation had stabilized.
The Ukrainian military has been operating in Sudzha and northern Zaoleshenka, according to geolocated footage obtained by the Institute for the Study of War. According to some Russian bloggers, Sudzha was taken over by Ukraine.
Social media footage seemed to show ambushes on opposing columns near Sudzha, including on Ukrainian forces in Giri village.
Not all of the territory “within the maximalist extent” of claimed advances was under the control of Ukrainian forces, according to the ISW’s assessment.
Smirnov reported that 11,000 people had been evacuated from the Belgorod region and 121,000 people had been evacuated from their homes in the Kursk region.
What kind of opposition has Ukraine encountered?
Although Ukraine has always conducted a number of small-scale sabotage and incursions into Russian border regions, Moscow was initially taken aback by the scope of this incursion and found it difficult to counteract.
Moscow has been announcing a broad counter-terror operation in Kursk and two other border regions since the weekend. On Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense declared that its forces were engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces “in the areas of the settlements of Tolpino, Zhuravli, and Obshchy Kolodez.”.
A strong reaction from Russia’s armed forces “won’t take long,” according to Maria Zakharova, a spokesman for the foreign ministry.
Ukrainian mobile groups’ attempt to penetrate far into Russian territory close to Kauchuk was thwarted, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Following claims that Ukraine had used drones to intrude into its airspace, Belarus, a Russian ally, also announced that it was augmenting the number of troops stationed at its borders.
The hardest part of Ukraine’s invasion is probably about to start now that Russian reserves have joined the fight, according to Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the open-source intelligence group Black Bird Group, located in Finland and responsible for tracking the conflict.
What is the reason behind Ukraine’s action?
Despite the intense secrecy surrounding the operation and the lack of clarity surrounding its objectives, Kyiv’s forces have advanced closer to vital supply routes within Russia, which are supporting Russia’s continuous offensive in eastern Ukraine.
In addition, the sole pumping station for Russian natural gas traveling via Ukraine to Europe is located in Sudzha, Kursk.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, declared on Sunday that the invasion was intended “to put pressure on the aggressor Russia” and to take “the war into the aggressor’s territory.”. Zelenskiy claimed that Russia’s Kursk region should pay fair retaliation for the thousands of strikes that were launched onto Ukrainian territory.
Speaking on Monday during a meeting with senior defense and security officials, Putin claimed that the attack seemed to be an attempt by Kyiv to get a stronger negotiating position in any potential future peace negotiations.
