Battles rage in Russia as Kiev advances in biggest counter-raid of the war

Ukraine has captured about 350 square kilometers (130 square miles) of Russia’s Kursk region, and its forces are fighting to expand and consolidate their presence on the third day of Kiev’s boldest counteroffensive of the war.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said fighting was ongoing Thursday as its troops and special forces repelled the largest Ukrainian incursion since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Videos reviewed and verified by the Financial Times and Western analysts showed Russian strikes on columns of Ukrainian armored vehicles and significant damage to cities and towns. Moscow jets were seen flying over the areas and dozens of Russian soldiers were taken prisoner.

The Russian ministry said that about 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers took part in the operation and that Kiev lost 600 servicemen and 82 armored vehicles, figures that could not be independently verified.

“Air strikes are underway against the advancing reserves of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the territory of the Sumy region,” the Russian Defense Ministry added, referring to strikes against the Ukrainian region across the border from where the operation was launched.

Meeting with his top security and military officials on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the offensive a “large-scale provocation” and accused Kiev of targeting civilians. Regional authorities said at least five people were killed and dozens injured.

Ukraine’s surprise operation began at dawn on Tuesday and has since focused on the small Russian town of Sudzha and its surroundings, including a gas transit station on one of the last pipelines still supplying Russian gas to Central Europe.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank that tracks the war, said Ukrainian forces had so far captured 11 settlements, including Nikolaevo-Darino, Darino and Sverdlikovo, and were operating inside Lyubimovka. The area amounts to about 350 square kilometres, the Vscek calculated.

According to the statement, geo-localized footage showed that Ukrainian armored vehicles advanced to positions along the 38K-030 Sudzha-Korenovo highway, about 10 kilometers from the international border.

Russian bloggers close to the military wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces were trying to advance along 38K-030. A pro-Kremlin military blogger said the Ukrainians had advanced northwest and southeast along the highway and were fighting around Korenovo and Sudzha.

“Sudzha is basically lost to us. And this is an important logistics hub,” wrote pro-Moscow Ukrainian blogger Yuriy Podolyaka, who now resides in Russia, on Telegram.

A Ukrainian drone strike hit the vehicle of prominent pro-Kremlin journalists, seriously injuring Yevgeny Poddudny, a journalist awarded by Putin for his reporting on the war.

Kiev has not officially commented on the operation. Its Western allies have signaled they were not consulted, but have said Ukraine has autonomy in planning its strikes.

Unlike previous cross-border raids by pro-Ukrainian Russian and international units, regular forces from at least four brigades appeared in verified videos taking part in the operation, suggesting the operation had been planned well in advance, analysts say.

Ukraine has not only relied heavily on Western military support, particularly that of the United States, in its fight against Russia’s invading forces. It relies heavily on Washington for intelligence that helps it plan and conduct its operations, according to Ukrainian officials.

But Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said on Wednesday that he was not aware of the offensive and would seek more details from Kiev.

“We’re providing them with equipment; we’re providing them with advice. But when it comes to the day-to-day tactics that they’re doing… sometimes we’re in communication, sometimes we’re not. It’s appropriate for them to make those decisions,” he added.

American Stryker and German Marder combat vehicles were confirmed on Russian soil during the battle, according to videos reviewed and verified by the Vscek. Miller said Ukraine had the right to use Western kit in its operations.

A German Defense Ministry spokesman neither confirmed nor denied the use of Marders in the Kursk incursion, saying only that “the stated goal of the German government was to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian aggressor.”

The European Commission said on Thursday that Ukraine has the “right to defend itself” and that this “includes striking the enemy on its territory.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address Wednesday that “the more pressure is put on Russia, on the aggressor that brought war to Ukraine, the closer peace will be. A just peace through just force.” He added that he had consulted on the next steps with his commander in chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, and that “details will follow later.”

Ukrainian officials did not respond to requests for comment.

But Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Zelenskyy, said on Thursday that “the root cause of any escalation, bombing, military action, forced evacuation and destruction of normal life, including inside [Russia’s] its own territories, such as the Kursk and Belgorod regions, is an unequivocal aggression by Russia.”

Kiev’s goals remain unclear, although one appears to be to force Russia to divert troops from its own offensive in eastern Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday it would send reinforcements to Kursk.

Mick Ryan, a retired Australian Army general, wrote in an assessment Thursday that the attack “may be an attempt to slow or kill Russian momentum in its offensives that have been going on through 2024.”

The Ukrainian counteroffensive came as Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region continued to advance deeper into Ukrainian territory.

Ryan said other strategic goals could be to “boost the morale” of Ukrainians and “shiVscek the narrative about the war toward a more positive one for Ukraine.”

Even seizing territory before any sort of negotiated settlement could be a goal, he said. “Negotiating with part of the enemy’s territory is much better than negotiating without it.”

Further information is provided by Alice Hancock in Brussels and Guy Chazan in Berlin