On Friday, Russia escalated its military presence in the southern Kursk region, deploying additional tanks, artillery, and rocket systems in response to a surprise Ukrainian incursion that has now persisted for four days. The reinforcement comes as Russia battles to contain the effects of the unexpected Ukrainian offensive.
Recent video footage, verified by Reuters, has shown a convoy of approximately 15 burned-out Russian military trucks scattered along a highway in Kursk, some of which contain deceased soldiers. This footage, posted on social media, highlights the damage inflicted by the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
The Ukrainian forces breached the border on Tuesday, delivering a surprise attack that caught the Russian military off guard. This incident has been described as a “Ukrainian invasion” by both politicians and military officials, marking a significant escalation nearly two and a half years after Russia’s own large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Two days after Military Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin that the Ukrainian advance had been halted, Russia’s defense ministry announced that its forces were continuing to repel the incursion. According to Interfax news agency, Russia is responding by sending reinforcements equipped with Grad multiple-launch rocket systems, artillery, and tanks.
The Ukrainian military has not officially commented on the offensive. However, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the Ukrainian forces on Thursday for their ability to “surprise” and achieve results, though he did not specifically mention Kursk.
Ben Barry, a land warfare analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), noted that while the broader strategic objectives of the Ukrainian offensive remain unclear, it has revealed Russian vulnerabilities and challenged the prevailing notion that the battlefield was “transparent” with both sides suffering heavy losses for any advancement.
The video of the destroyed Russian trucks was posted by a Ukrainian Telegram channel, which claimed they were hit by a U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket system. Russian bloggers also attributed the destruction to a HIMARS strike and criticized the tactical decisions made by the Russian command. One blogger expressed severe criticism of the decision to move military vehicles in exposed columns.
Reuters was unable to confirm the exact cause of the destruction of the vehicles. MASH, a Russian news outlet with security service contacts, reported that the video was filmed by a local resident who was later arrested on suspicion of espionage.
In response, Russia’s defense ministry released its own video showing a drone attack on a Ukrainian tank and howitzer near Sudzha, a claim that Reuters verified. The ministry stated that Russian troops, supported by air strikes and artillery, had successfully suppressed attempts by Ukrainian units to penetrate deep into Russian territory in the Kursk direction. The ministry claimed that Ukraine had lost up to 945 soldiers and 102 armored vehicles during the Kursk clashes, though no Russian casualties were mentioned.
The Institute for the Study of War reported that Ukrainian forces continued their rapid advances into the Kursk region on Thursday, with unverified Russian sources suggesting that Ukrainian troops had pushed up to 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the border. Rybar, a Russian military blog, reported that Ukrainian units were capturing villages and staging ambushes against incoming Russian reinforcements.
In response to the escalating situation, Kursk’s acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, issued several security alerts to residents, urging them to take shelter from potential missile attacks. A federal state of emergency was declared in the region. The Russian rouble also saw a 2.5% drop against the dollar, attributed in part to the Ukrainian attack on Kursk.
Analyst Ben Barry identified several potential motivations behind the Ukrainian offensive, including drawing Russian forces away from the eastern front, seizing and holding Russian territory for leverage, and possibly drawing Russian warplanes to Kursk to target them with ground-based air defense systems. The attack also appears aimed at “bringing the war home to Russia,” undermining the credibility of President Putin and the Russian military.
