A state of emergency has been declared in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, which borders Ukraine's Sumy region. According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), on August 7, armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced approximately 10 kilometers beyond the border. Fighting is primarily occurring in the Sudzha district. The military and political leadership of Ukraine has not yet commented on the incident.
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The Armed Forces of Ukraine launched an attack toward Kursk on August 6 at dawn. On August 7, they occupied the Sudzha checkpoint on the border of the Sumy and Kursk districts, capturing several dozen Russian border guards. Additionally, reports indicate that they took control of the Sudzha gas measuring station, located a few hundred meters from the checkpoint. This station is part of the main gas pipeline infrastructure of Russia, through which gas is supplied to Europe via Ukraine.
Vano Nadiradze, a fighter in Ukraine associated with Radio Freedom, reported that one of the landing groups was led by Georgian Giorgi Partsvania. Nadiradze also shared a photo on Facebook in which Partsvania is seen holding the Georgian flag. "In the 20th century, it was Kantaria, and now, in the 21st century, it is Partsvania. The Georgian flag on Russian territory," Nadiradze wrote.
Reports that Yevgeny Podubny, a "military correspondent" for the Russian State Broadcasting Company, was killed during an attack by Ukrainian drones in the Kursk region have not been confirmed. The propagandist was wounded and is currently receiving treatment in a Kursk hospital.
According to data from the Russian Ministry of Health, published at the end of the day on August 7, 31 people were injured in the Kursk bombing, including 6 children. Nineteen of the injured required hospitalization.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the developments in Kursk "another large-scale provocation by the Kiev regime." Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and First Deputy Minister of Defense, reported to Putin that "at 5:30 a.m. on August 6, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, numbering up to a thousand men, went on the offensive to seize part of the Suzhi district in the Kursk region." According to Gerasimov, their advance into the territory in the direction of Kursk was halted. "The enemy's losses amounted to 315 people, including at least 100 killed and 215 wounded. Fifty-four armored vehicles were destroyed, including seven tanks," Gerasimov said.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated that the US had not received advance information from Ukraine about any operation in the Kursk region: "but it’s not unusual for the Ukrainians not to notify us of their exact tactics before – before they execute them. This is a war that they – they are conducting. We provide them with equipment, we provide them with advice, but when it comes to the kind of day-by-day tactics that they carry out, the day-by-day strikes that they take, sometimes we’re in communication about them; sometimes we’re not."
Peter Stano, the European Commission's representative for foreign policy matters, noted that under international law, Ukraine has the legal right to defend itself, including striking an aggressor on its own territory.
