Ukrainian Forces Advance 30km into Russian Territory as Russians Fortify Kursk NPP, BBC Says

Ukrainian troops have advanced up to 30 kilometers inside Russia, marking the deepest and most significant incursion since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, according to the BBC report.

According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, its forces have engaged Ukrainian troops near the villages of Tolpino and Obshchy Kolodez as the offensive in the Kursk Region entered its sixth day. Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Kyiv of “intimidating the peaceful population of Russia.”

The Kursk offensive represents the largest coordinated attack on Russian territory by Kyiv’s conventional forces, the BBC report suggests.

“We are on the offensive. The aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses, and to destabilize the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border,” a senior Ukrainian official told AFP.

On August 11, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that its forces had “foiled attempts by enemy mobile groups with armored vehicles to break through deep into Russian territory.” However, they also reported engaging Ukrainian troops near the villages of Tolpino and Obshchy Kolodez, located approximately 25 to 30 kilometers from the Russia-Ukraine border, indicating Kyiv’s forces had advanced deep into the Kursk border region.

Footage circulating online appeared to show a Russian strike near the village of Levshinka, around 25 kilometers from the border. In Guevo, a village about 3 kilometers inside Russia, soldiers filmed themselves removing the Russian flag from an administrative building.

Clips also emerged of Ukrainian troops reportedly seizing administrative buildings in Sverdlikovo and Poroz, with intense fighting reported in Sudzha, a town of about 5,000 people.

Ukrainian troops have reportedly filmed themselves outside Sudzha at a major gas facility involved in the transit of natural gas from Russia to the EU via Ukraine, which has continued despite the war.

In Sumy Region, bordering Kursk, BBC reporters witnessed a steady stream of armored personnel carriers and tanks moving toward Russia. The armored convoys sported white triangular insignias, seemingly to distinguish them from the hardware used within Ukraine.

Additionally, photos analyzed by BBC Verify, showed Russia constructing new defensive lines near the Kursk NPP. Ukrainian forces engaged at Obshchy Kolodez were reported to be within 50 kilometers of the facility. Contrasting satellite imagery captured yesterday with imagery from a few days earlier revealed several newly constructed trench lines in the vicinity, with the nearest roughly 8 kilometers from the plant.

Russia claimed 76,000 people had been evacuated from border areas in the Kursk region, where a state of emergency has been declared by local authorities. Acting regional governor Aleksei Smirnov reported that 15 people were injured late Saturday when the wreckage of a downed Ukrainian missile fell on a multi-story building in the regional capital, Kursk.

Some analysts believe the reported Kursk attack aims to force Russia to redeploy forces away from Eastern Ukraine and relieve pressure on Ukrainian defenses. However, the Ukrainian official told AFP that there has been little reduction in Russian operations in the East.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that 2,000 cross-border attacks had been launched by Russia from Kursk this summer. “Artillery, mortars, drones. We also record missile strikes, and each such strike deserves a fair response,” Zelenskyy stated in his nightly address on August 11.