Did Ukrainian army really enter Kursk Oblast? Analysis

How did it all begin?

In the morning, the authorities of Kursk Oblast announced that overnight on August 5, the Ukrainian military allegedly tried to break through the Russian border in the Sudzha and Korenevo districts. However, this was allegedly prevented thanks to the soldiers of the border guard, the armed forces and the FSB of the Russian Federation.

The acting governor of Kursk Oblast, Aleksey Smirnov, also reported Ukrainian drone attacks, which resulted in dead and wounded.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed an attempt to break through the border, which was apparently preceded by firearms training. This was done by up to 300 fighters of the 22 Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who allegedly attacked Russian units on the border in Kursk Oblast.

According to the department, the military, with the support of 11 tanks and more than 20 armored fighting vehicles, attacked the positions of units protecting the state border of the Russian Federation near the villages of Nikolaevo-Daryino and Oleshnya, which are located on the border.

However, the Ministry of Defense also said that Russian troops are still repelling attacks and striking fighters in the border area and reserves in Sumy Oblast.

CAUTION! Profanities heard in the video!

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of hostilities, 90% of residents were evacuated from four settlements in the Sudzha district of Kursk Oblast, local official Petr Zaychenko told the Kremlin's RIA Novosti agency. In addition, all medical services of the region have switched to an enhanced mode of operation, and an additional resource of emergency medical teams has been formed in the region.

What is known about battles and losses?

As reported by the Russian Telegram channel Sota, during the fighting there were pictures showing the destruction of Russian equipment, namely:

• the Ka-52 helicopter, the Sumy regional authorities also reported the downing of a helicopter;
• two T-62M tanks,
• two KAMAZ trucks.

The mass media also wrote that at least two Russian conscripts could have been captured in Kursk Oblast. The journalists found out that these were 22-year-old and 21-year-old Russians, the Russian service of Deutsche Welle reports.

For its part, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported on the attacks on the cluster of manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of a number of settlements in Sumy Oblast. They also claimed destruction of 16 units of armored vehicles of the Ukrainian military.

At the same time, the pro-Kremlin Mash channel wrote this morning about dozens of dead and wounded Ukrainian soldiers.

According to the commander of the Russian special forces Akhmat Apti Alaudinov, the situation on the border is "not critical", and the Russian troops are "fighting back". At the same time, the governor said in the evening that the situation "is under control, but remains tense."

The head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Aleksandr Bastrykin has already instructed to open a criminal case over the attack on the settlements of Kursk Oblast.

As of the evening of August 6, the Ukrainian authorities did not officially comment on the information about the hostilities, and there was no reaction from the 22nd Brigade, which is accused of the attack by Russia.

How does the world react?

The Google Trends tool revealed that users worldwide were interested in the events in the Kursk Oblast border region—the number of requests increased sharply on the afternoon of August 6.

According to the tool's data, the most requests regarding Kursk and the city of Sudzha were in Ukraine, but dozens of other countries actively searched for information about the incident—Poland, Bulgaria, Moldova, the Czech Republic, Norway, Austria, Slovakia, Germany, and Belarus.

X users also actively commented on events in Kursk Oblast as more than 39,000 posts with the word Kursk appeared on the social network.