On Tuesday, August 6, several hundred Ukrainian troops, equipped with around 10 tanks and around 20 armored vehicles, launched an offensive on Russian territory bordering Ukraine, spreading panic in the Kursk region, where a state of emergency was declared on Wednesday. Several localities, including the small town of Sudzha, were bombarded by drones and missiles, causing at least five deaths and more than 30 injuries, according to official figures. Supported by the presence of 2,000 troops massed on the Ukrainian side of the border, this was the largest incursion into Russia since the start of the war.

On Tuesday night, heavy fighting broke out in Goncharivka and Oleshnya, also in the Kursk region, according to the Rybar Telegram channel, which is close to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Russian soldiers found themselves surrounded in Oleshnya. Several of them were taken prisoner, including conscripts assigned to patrol the border zone, according to videos posted on Ukrainian social media.

The offensive continued on Wednesday, with Russian military bloggers reporting a 15-kilometer advance by Ukrainian troops and the capture of several villages – some 20, according to them. Nikolayevo-Daryino, Daryino, Sverdlikovo, Obukhivka, Pokrovskoye, Tolsty Loug, Lyubimovka, Gornal, Guevo and Kurilovka are now said to be under Ukrainian control, as is the Sudzha gas station.

If confirmed, this capture would be particularly embarrassing for Moscow, as the station is a crucial link in gas transit. Russian gas is transported through Sudzha, via the Druzhba pipeline which crosses Ukraine, to homes in Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. Impossible to verify, this information was widely shared by Russian social media accounts. It even caused a wave of anxiety in the European gas market, which rose by 4.8% on Wednesday, the highest level since December, according to Bloomberg.

Seen from Moscow, 500 kilometers away, the attack was considered so worrying that Vladimir Putin convened his security council mid-day on Wednesday. Describing the Ukrainian offensive as a "large-scale provocation," he spoke out against "indiscriminate bombardment of civilian targets." He then called on First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov to oversee "immediate" assistance to residents of the affected areas.

In a televised video interview with the president, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov asserted that "the enemy's advance deep into territory in the Kursk direction was stopped by [...] air strikes, missile and artillery fire." According to him, up to a thousand Ukrainian soldiers were involved in the attack. "More than 100 were killed, over 200 wounded," he said.

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