Fighting rages inside Russian territory after Ukraine's surprise incursion

Fighting in Russia rages for a third day after 1,000 Ukrainian troops stormed across the international border into the Kursk region on Tuesday in one of the largest surprise attacks on Russia since the war began over two years ago.

Moscow called a state of emergency in the Kursk region — located roughly 175 miles northeast of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv — after Ukrainian forces pushed through at least two lines of defense, according to open-source reporting outlined by the Institute for the Study of War. 

Footage released by Ukraine's defense ministry Thursday showed dozens of Russian soldiers surrendering to Ukrainian troops, and reports by pro-Russian bloggers suggest Ukraine is continuing to advance north in the Kursk region. 

Details on Ukraine’s operational goals remain unclear amid a policy of blanket silence from Kyiv.

A satellite image shows the area of the Sudzha border crossing in Oleshnya, Kursk Region, Russia, on Tuesday. (Planet Labs Inc/Handout via Reuters)

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But in his first statement since the cross-border invasion into Russia, Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, shed light on the motivating force behind the incursion. 

"The root cause of any escalation, shelling, military actions, forced evacuations, and destruction of normal life forms, including within [the Russian Federation’s] own territories like Kursk and Belgorod regions, is solely Russia’s unequivocal aggression," he said on X. "Russia has consistently believed that restrictive legal norms do not apply to it."

"But war is war, with its own rules, where the aggressor inevitably reaps corresponding outcomes," he added. 

Open-source reporting from Russian bloggers shows that despite allegedly taking heavy losses, Ukrainian forces successfully captured a key military checkpoint and the Sudzha gas distribution station — which ensures continued trans-shipping of natural gas from Russia to Europe — and continue to expand their assault across the region. 

Images and reports have confirmed the evacuation of Russian civilians from the Kursk region, though exact figures on the number of evacuees remain unclear, with reports ranging from 3,000-10,000 civilians having fled the fighting.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly called the assault a "major provocation" following a meeting with top security officials Wednesday, though Moscow has not confirmed the seizure of the Sudzha distribution station.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with defense officials on the Ukrainian incursion, outside Moscow, on Wednesday. (Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via Reuters)

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Army Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the general staff, reportedly told Putin and other top officials in the meeting that Russian forces had stopped Ukraine’s advances.

But on-the-ground information remains contrary to the Kremlin’s comments, and pro-Russian military blogger Yuri Podolyaka said, "Sudzha is basically lost to us. And this is an important logistics hub," reported France24. "In general, the situation is difficult and continues to deteriorate, despite the fact that the pace of the Ukrainian offensive has noticeably dropped."

Pro-Russian bloggers have also said Ukrainian forces continue to push north toward the Russian town of Lgov, a settlement just 20 miles from the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant. 

Some reporting has suggested Ukraine could have its sights set on the power plant, though it is unclear how Kyiv would intend to hold the plant or the territory it could gain. 

Russian forces are seen not far from the border in Sumy region, Ukraine, on May 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

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It is unclear what types of losses Ukrainian forces have endured in Russia.

Zelenskyy did not comment on the operation in Russia during his nightly address to the nation on Wednesday and instead said he had spoken to his Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and that "details would follow later."

When pressed for details on Ukraine’s operation in Russia, White House national security adviser John Kirby said he would let Kyiv speak to its military dealings. 

He added, however, "Nothing has changed about our policy with respect to enabling or encouraging strikes or attacks inside Russia."

The Biden administration has relinquished some of its opposition to Ukraine hitting strategic targets inside Russia using U.S.-supplied weaponry so long as they "target imminent threats just across the border."