On Wednesday, 7 August, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented for the first time on the situation in the Kursk region of Russia, where fighting has been going on for more than a day. This was reported by [Kommersant] with reference to the official kremlin website.
The Russian leader called the events in the Kursk region a “large-scale provocation”.
“The Kyiv regime has made another large-scale provocation, firing indiscriminately with various types of weapons, including rockets, at civilian buildings, residential buildings, and ambulances,” he said.
It is known that the Russian president was informed about the fighting in the Kursk region at night. This was done by the acting governor of the region, Alexei Smirnov, who himself reported it himself on his Telegram channel.
The next morning, the Russian leader urgently convened a meeting with government officials. During the meeting, Putin also said that he would hold a meeting with the heads of law enforcement agencies, the FSB and the Ministry of Defence. He instructed First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov to coordinate the government’s work on the situation in the border area at the first stage.
During the aforementioned meeting, Valery Gerasimov, head of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, reported to Putin and stated that “the enemy’s advance into the territory has been stopped.”
What is happening in the Kursk region
In the evening of 6 August, the first reports appeared in the Ukrainian information space about the breakthrough of unidentified soldiers into the territory of the Kursk region of Russia. Unknown units allegedly crossed the Ukrainian-Russian border from Ukraine and moved deeper into the region. At the same time, the Ukrainian military command maintains absolute information silence and almost all information comes from Russian public media. At the same time, it is likely that this information should not be dismissed as unreliable, as this time the mood of Russian propagandists and military commanders is quite panicked.
on6 August, throughout the day , there were reports of the advance of Ukrainian armed forces north-west of Suzha along the Daryna-Zelenyi Shlyakh line. Video footage of the shelling of Suzha appeared on social media. Local authorities reported a growing number of civilian casualties.
At 15:05, the Russian Ministry of Defence commented on the situation for the first time, stating that up to 300 soldiers, supported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armoured vehicles, had attacked from Ukraine. The ministry announced the deployment of reserves to the area of hostilities and the use of army aircraft.
In the evening of the same day , the Russian Ministry of Defence withdrew its previous statement about the retreat of the Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group. This raised additional questions about the real situation on the ground.
On the night of 7 August , there were reports of explosions in the city of Kurchatov, where the Kursk nuclear power plant is located. It was assumed that air defence systems were operating there. This information highlighted the expansion of the conflict zone and potential risks to critical infrastructure. And the town of Sudzha, located 10 kilometres from the Russian-Ukrainian border, came under fire again.
At 12:30 p.m. on the same day, the Russian Ministry of Defence issued a statement on the continuation of the “operation to destroy the Ukrainian Armed Forces” in the Kursk region. The ministry claimed that the Ukrainian armed forces had not been allowed to advance deeper into Russian territory and that Ukrainian forces had suffered significant losses in equipment and personnel. It also claimed to have struck enemy reserves in the Sumy region of Ukraine.
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