Ukraine border incursion forces Russia to declare state of emergency – live

Ukrainian forces have made confirmed advances up to 10km into Russia’s Kursk Oblast amid continued mechanized offensive operations on Russian territory yesterday, the Institute for the Study of War.

“Geolocated footage published on 6 and 7 August shows that Ukrainian armoured vehicles have advanced to positions along the 38K-030 route about 10km from the international border. The current confirmed extent and location of Ukrainian advances in Kursk Oblast indicate that Ukrainian forces have penetrated at least two Russian defensive lines and a stronghold,” the Washington based think-tank said in its latest assessment.

It cited a Russian insider source who claimed that Ukrainian forces have “seized 45 sq km of territory within Kursk Oblast since they launched the operation on 6 August, and other Russian sources reported that Ukrainian forces have captured 11 total settlements, including Nikolaevo-Daryino (1.5km north of the Sumy Oblast border), Darino (3km north of the Sumy Oblast border), and Sverdlikovo (east of the Nikolaevo-Darino-Darino area), and are operating within Lyubimovka (8km north of the Sumy Oblast border).

Ukrainian forces have also reportedly captured 40 prisoners of war at the Sudzha checkpoint.

It added that Chechen units reportedly suffered very heavy losses in Ukrainian attacks in the Korenovo Raion yesterday.

Prominent Russian TV war reporter Yevgeny Poddubny survived a Ukrainian drone strike in southern Russia’s Kursk region yesterday and was in intensive care in a local hospital, his television channel and officials said.

Rossiya-24 claimed Poddubny came under fire from a Ukrainian drone while reporting in Kursk region, where Russia’s military said it has been battling to contain an incursion by up to 1,000 soldiers.

“War correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny is conscious,” Russia’s health ministry said. “He is now in intensive care. He is receiving the treatment he needs. There are plans to organise remote consultations with leading (Russian) federal centres.”

Rossiya-24 said Poddubny, 40 and one of the most visible reporters of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, had filed a report on developments in Kursk region hours before coming under fire.

Poddubny has also covered the conflict in Syria.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, responsible for dealing with the country’s most serious crimes, said it would be working to establish who was responsible for the attack. It said Poddubny would be presented with an award.

More on the diplomatic dispute between Ukraine, Mali and Niger.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry yesterday described Mali’s decision to sever ties as “short-sighted and hasty” but has not yet commented on Niger’s decision to sever ties today.

President Zelensky said in December 2023 that strengthening bonds with countries in Africa was going to be a diplomatic priority for 2024 – so he will be dismayed at the collapse in relationships with Mali and Niger.

The two countries have not been supporting of Ukraine’s position in the war so far – but Ukraine are nonetheless currently on a charm offensive to gain the support of more countries in Africa.

Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba’s yesterday met his Zambian counterpart in which the countries signed a “memorandum of understanding”.

He also met Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera on Monday, 5 August. Malawi has backed Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

To conclude the three-stop tour, Kuleba will be visiting Mauritius later this week.

Niger has severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine, becoming the second west African country to do so this week.

It comes amid a row over whether the Ukrainian government supported an attack last month which killed dozens of Malian soldiers and mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, which was previously involved in the war on Ukraine.

The country’s military junta has accused Kyiv of supporting “terrorist groups” and followed in the footsteps of neighbouring country Mali by cutting all ties.

Reports emerged in Ukraine that Andriy Yusov, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency GUR, admitted Kyiv had supported the Tuareg rebels who claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on Mali’s northeastern border with Algeria.

Yusov was quoted as saying “the rebels received all the necessary information they needed”, but earlier this week told the Financial Times he had made “no such statement”.

US had not received any advance notification from Ukraine of any operation in Kursk Oblast, Russia, said Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US Department of State.

“It’s not unusual for the Ukrainians not to notify us of their exact tactics before they execute them,” he said in a regular briefing last night.

“It’s the war that they [the Ukrainians] are conducting. We are providing them with the equipment; we provide them with advice. But when it comes to the day-by-day tactic that they carry out, the day-by-day strikes that they take, sometimes we’re in communication about it, sometimes we’re not. It’s appropriate for them to make those decisions,” Mr Miller stated.

On being asked whether the actions of Ukrainian forces in Kursk violate the US ban on strikes on the territory of Russia with American weapons, Mr Miller said Washington’s policy in this regard had not changed.

“I’d say it this way. Nothing about our policy has changed, and with the actions that they [the Ukrainians – ed.] are taking today they are not violating our policy,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of a “major provocation” following an incursion into the Kursk region.

Spelling to members of the Russian government about the Kursk attack, Putin said the “Kyiv regime has launched another major provocation”.

He further accused Ukrainian forces of the “indiscriminate shelling of civilian” targets in the Kursk region.

The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that up to 300 Ukrainian soldiers entered Russian territory in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.

Abandoned armoured vehicles were found in geolocated footage by US-based Institute for the Study of War, while Russia released images which they said showed the shelling of Ukrainian vehicles which were part of the incursion.

Russian officials said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s cross-border raids into the Kursk region have entered their second day.

Kyiv is yet to speak out about the operation, which the Russian Defence Ministry claims has seen 300 Ukrainian servicemen crossing the northeastern border from Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Russia says it has successfully repelled the attacks so far, and earlier released images appearing to show military vehicles being struck by drones.

If Ukraine’s cross-border attacks are confirmed, and continue, Russian reserves could be drawn to the area, which may weaken Russia’s offensive in multiple parts of the Donetsk region.

This could also post the risk of stretching Ukraine’s currently outnumbered troops even further along the frontline.

Alexei Smirnov, the head of Russia’s Kursk region, has called on residents to donate blood as a result of the fighting.

Vladimir Putin described a Ukrainian incursion into the country’s southwestern Kursk region as a “large-scale provocation” as his officials asserted that they were fighting off cross-border raids for a second day. Ukrainian officials remained silent about the scope of the operation.

Mr Putin met with his top defence and security officials to discuss what he called the “indiscriminate shelling of civilian buildings, residential houses, ambulances with different types of weapons.” He instructed the Cabinet to coordinate assistance to the Kursk region.

The fighting is about 500km (320 miles) from Moscow.Army chief of staff Valery Gerasimov told Mr Putin at the meeting via video link that about 100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the battle and more than 200 wounded, Russian news agencies reported.

Ukrainian troops had seized three settlements in the region and continued to fight their way deeper in, according to Rybar, a Telegram channel run by Mikhail Zvinchuk, a retired Russian Defence Ministry press officer.

If confirmed, the cross-border raid would be among Ukraine’s largest since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and unprecedented for its deployment of Ukrainian military units.

Kyiv’s aim could be to draw Russian reserves to the area, potentially weakening Moscow’s offensive operations in several parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region where Russian forces have increased attacks and are advancing gradually toward operationally significant gains.

Ksenia Karelina, a dual Russian-American citizen, has pleaded guilty to treason in a Russian court, a state news agency claimed.

Karelina, 33, was arrested in February for allegedly contributing $51.80 to Razom for Ukraine, a non-profit group based in New York that provides non-military aid to the country.

Her lawyer today confirmed that she has pleaded guilty, state news agency RIA said.

She was accused by prosecutors of “proactively transferring funds to a Ukrainian organisation, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces subsequently used to purchase tactical medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition”.

The maximum sentence for her crime is 20 years in prison.