Russia declared a state of emergency in the Kursk region late Wednesday as Ukrainian forces continued a cross-border attack there.
“To eliminate the consequences of enemy forces coming into the region, I took the decision to introduce a state of emergency in the Kursk region from Aug. 7,” the acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said in a post on Telegram Wednesday evening.
The Russian military said clashes with Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region have been occurring since early Tuesday, in an incursion that Russian President Vladimir Putin called “a large-scale provocation.”
Despite some international worries that the attack may provoke Russia, the European Union said that Kyiv was within its rights to fight on Russian territory.
“Ukraine is fighting a rightful defensive war based on international law. Ukraine has a right to defend itself. And this right to defend itself includes also hitting the enemy on his territory,” Peter Stano, a spokesperson for the Commission, told reporters on Thursday.
The White House will “reach out to the Ukrainian military to learn more about their objectives,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday, adding: “We are going to continue to stay focused on making sure they have what they need to defend themselves against Russia’s aggression.”
Surprise attack
The first reports of a Kyiv ground attack came from Smirnov, who wrote on Telegram about “attempted border breakthroughs” in the Sudzhansky and Korenevsky districts, and later claimed that Ukrainians had attacked Russian border force units at the settlements of Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya.
Ukraine has not officially commented on the military activity in Kursk, but Kyiv has announced a mandatory evacuation of 6,000 people in northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy, just across the border from Kursk. While not mentioning Kursk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Wednesday: “It is important to continue destroying our enemy … And the more pressure is exerted on Russia … the closer peace will be.”
Seeming to confirm Kyiv’s move into Kursk, Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko said late Wednesday that the Ukrainian army had established control over the Sudzha gas hub, which is about 8 kilometers from the border and represents the last major point for Russian gas still flowing into Europe.
Goncharenko added Thursday morning: “Kursk region. Day three. Everything is according to plan.”
“For the first time since World War II, a foreign army is conducting a combined arms operation on the territory of Russia and taking control of settlements,” Goncharenko said on Telegram.
Experts from the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War on Wednesday said the advance of Ukrainian troops was up to 10 kilometers deep into Kursk, based on an analysis of available data.
Information from Thursday indicated Ukrainian forces have captured the Russian town of Sudzha, with reports of Ukrainian troops spotted as fas as the village of Bolshesoldatsky, about 40 km inside Russia.
‘First on this scale’
Ukrainian incursions into Russian territory have been rare since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.
“It’s not the first incursion into Russia, but I think it’s the first on this scale with conventional forces, rather than proxies [or] ‘resistance’ groups,” said Matthew Savill, military sciences director with the Royal United Services Institute think tank.
This week’s advance has sparked alarm in the Kremlin. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged Russian forces to capture Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on his Telegram channel after the attack.
“This is no longer just an operation to retake our official territories and punish the Nazis. It is possible and necessary to go to the lands of the still existing Ukraine. To Odesa, to Kharkiv, to Dnipropetrovsk, to Mykolaiv. To Kyiv and beyond,” Medvedev wrote.
“The current military campaign will also end in Russia’s unconditional victory,” Medvedev added on X.
Savill at RUSI said the element of surprise is different this time compared to earlier border attacks, exposing “weak points” along Russia’s frontier in a region used to funnel troops for attacks on Kharkiv.
While it is still unclear what Ukraine’s objectives are in the offensive, the aim could be anything from capturing more prisoners of war for future exchanges, to taking out strategic military targets, or simply sending “a signal to international backers that Ukraine is still in the fight,” said Savill.
“It’s unlikely that the plan is to seriously take Kursk itself, or to try and hold vast swathes of Russian territory,” said Savill. On Thursday afternoon, Ukrainian troops were about 50 km from Kursk.
Nico Lange, a former chief of staff at Germany’s defense ministry, said Kyiv is still driving the narrative around the attack but that it’s unlikely its forces will be able to hold on to territory inside Russia for very long. “Ukraine may be able to establish a negotiating position and provide relief on other front lines if Russian forces have to be relocated,” Lange said on X.
“It’s good that Ukraine is taking actions that surprise the Russians,” said retired Polish General Roman Polko, the former commander of Poland’s special forces.
“Ukraine is in a defensive position and is unable to conduct an operation to push Russia from the occupied regions, but Ukraine is defending itself in an active way,” Polko told the Polish Press Agency. “One can’t allow the Russians to comfortably prepare new attacks.”
Polko said he has heard words of caution from Ukraine’s allies that Kyiv may have crossed a red line by attacking inside Russia, but dismissed those worries. “You can’t be a boxer and fight in the ring with one arm tied behind your back,” he said.
This article has been updated.
