Ukraine has captured roughly 350 sq km in Russia’s Kursk region, with its forces fighting to expand and solidify their presence on the third day of Kyiv’s most audacious counteroffensive of the war.
The Russian defence ministry said battles raged on Thursday as its troops and special forces fought off 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 armoured vehicles and significant damage to cities and towns. Moscow’s jets were seen flying over the areas and dozens of Russian soldiers have been taken prisoner.
The Russian ministry claimed that around 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers had taken part in the operation and that Kyiv had lost 600 military personnel and 82 armoured vehicles — figures that could not be independently verified.
“Air strikes are being carried out on advancing reserves of the armed forces of Ukraine on the territory of the Sumy region,” Russia’s defence ministry added, referring to strikes on 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 Kyiv 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 city 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 that Ukrainian forces had so far seized 45 sq km of territory within Kursk region and captured 11 total settlements, including Nikolaevo-Darino, Darino, and Sverdlikovo, and were operating within Lyubimovka.
It said that geolocated footage showed that Ukrainian armoured vehicles have advanced to positions along the 38K-030 Sudzha-Korenovo highway about 10 kilometres from the international border.
Russian bloggers close to the military wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces were trying to advance along the 38K-030. One pro-Kremlin military blogger said the Ukrainians had advanced north-west and south-east along the highway and were fighting around Korenovo and Sudzha.
“Sudzha is basically lost for us. And this is an important logistics hub,” the pro-Moscow Ukrainian blogger Yuriy Podolyaka who now resides in Russia wrote on Telegram.
A Ukrainian drone attack struck the vehicle of prominent pro-Kremlin reporters, severely injuring Yevgeny Poddudny, a journalist awarded by Putin for his war coverage.
Kyiv has not officially commented on the operation. Its western allies signalled they were not consulted, but said that Ukraine had autonomy in planning its strikes.
Unlike past cross-border raids conducted by pro-Ukrainian Russian and international units, regular forces from at least four brigades have appeared in verified videos taking part in the operation. This suggests the operation was planned well in advance, analysts say.
Ukraine has not only largely depended on western military support — particularly that from the US — in its fight against Russia’s invasion forces. It relies heavily on Washington for intelligence to help plan and conduct its operations, according to Ukrainian officials.
But Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the US Department of State, said on Wednesday that it had no earlier knowledge of the offensive and would request more details from Kyiv.
“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 . . . sometimes we’re in communication about it, sometimes we’re not. It’s appropriate for them to make those decisions,” he added.
American Stryker and German Marder fighting vehicles have been confirmed on Russian territory during the battle, according to videos reviewed and verified by the FT. Miller said Ukraine was within its right to use western kit in its operations.
A spokesman for the German defence ministry did not confirm nor deny Marders were used in the Kursk incursion, saying only that it was the “German government’s declared objective to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian aggressor”.
The European Commission said on Thursday that Ukraine had a “right to defend itself” and that “includes hitting the enemy on its territory”.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Wednesday that “the more pressure is exerted on Russia — on the aggressor that brought the war to Ukraine, the closer peace will be. Just peace through just force.” He added that he had consulted about 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 the Zelenskyy, said Thursday that “the root cause of any escalation, shelling, military actions, forced evacuations, and destruction of normal life forms, including within [Russia’s] own territories like Kursk and Belgorod regions, is solely Russia’s unequivocal aggression”.
Kyiv’s objectives remain opaque, although one appears to be to force Russia to divert troops from its own offensive in eastern Ukraine. The Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday that it was sending reinforcements to Kursk.
Mick Ryan, a retired Australian army major general, wrote in an assessment on Thursday that the attack “might be an attempt to slow or kill Russian momentum in its offensives which have lasted for the duration of 2024”.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive came as Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region continued to advance deeper into Ukraine.
Ryan said that other strategic objectives might be to “boost morale” of Ukrainians and “to shift the narrative on the war to one more positive for Ukraine”.
Seizing territory ahead of any kind negotiated settlement could also be an objective, he said. “Negotiating with some of your enemy’s territory is much better than negotiating without it.”
Additional reporting by Alice Hancock in Brussels and Guy Chazan in Berlin
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