Acting Governor of Kursk Oblast Alexey Smirnov and several Russian military bloggers warned that military actions continue in the border areas of Sudzhansky and Korenevsky districts of Kursk Oblast.
This information, notes The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) contradicts reports from the Russian Defense Ministry and the Russian FSB, which say they have repelled the raids.
Russian sources claim that Ukrainian troops carried out a series of cross-border raids into the Kursk region on August 6. The Russian Defense Ministry and the Federal Security Service of Russia said on August 6 that Russian border troops and FSB officers repelled several raids by Ukrainian forces equipped with about a battalion's worth of tanks and armored vehicles.
Ukrainian forces allegedly advanced on Russian positions near Nikolayevo-Daryno and Oleshnya in the Kursk region (northwest of the city of Sumy and along the Russian-Ukrainian border). Geolocation footage released on August 6 shows damaged and abandoned armored vehicles about seven kilometers north of the border west of Lyubimovka in the Kursk region.
Russian sources claim the footage shows Ukrainian equipment, but ISW cannot confirm whether it is Russian, Ukrainian or both.
Russian military bloggers claim that Ukrainian forces attacked from two directions: from the Sudzha checkpoint and from the village of Novoye in the Sumy region in the direction of Nikolayevo-Darino in the Kursk region.
The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that Russian reserve forces responded to the alleged Ukrainian raids, and a Russian insider source claimed that elements of the Chechen Akhmat special forces also repelled the raids, but ISW could not verify these claims.
Russia's Defense Ministry said it had destroyed 16 Ukrainian armored vehicles during the raids, and Russian troops had launched retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian positions in the Sumy region.
Russian bloggers have published videos purporting to show the aftermath of alleged Ukrainian raids, although most of the damage shown in the videos is the result of routine Ukrainian shelling and does not indicate that ground action was taking place in the area.
Key ISW findings: Russian sources claim that Ukrainian forces carried out a series of cross-border raids into the Kursk region on August 6. Russian military bloggers have largely dismissed the alleged Ukrainian raids into the Kursk region, and Ukrainian officials have largely yet to comment on the raids.
Meanwhile, it is reported that local residents abandoned Surzha. On the night of August 7, near Sudzha in the Kursk region, a drone struck an ambulance, killing two people. This was reported by the acting governor of the region, Alexey Smirnov. He blamed Ukraine for the attack. According to Smirnov, the dead were the driver and paramedic, and the doctor was wounded. Kyiv did not comment on this. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, four drones were shot down over the Kursk region at night, three over Belgorod, and two over Voronezh and Rostov. According to the authorities of the last three regions, there are no casualties, Radio Liberty reports.
A Telegram channel close to the Russian Defense Ministry claims that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have captured three villages in the Kursk region. The pro-war z-channel “Rybar” writes that the Ukrainian troops that invaded the Sudzhansky district of the Kursk region the day before managed to capture three villages. According to them, the Ukrainian Armed Forces occupied the villages of Nikolayevo-Daryino, Darino and Sverdlikovo. Fighting is underway in Goncharovka and Oleshnya. The Ukrainian troops that invaded the Sudzhansky district on August 6 managed to gain a foothold in the border zone. In Oleshnya, Russian servicemen are fighting in almost complete encirclement, “Rybar” writes, claiming that up to 400 Ukrainian servicemen have invaded the territory of the Kursk region, and up to two thousand more servicemen are concentrated along the border.
Another z-channel, “Archangel Spetsnaz,” writes that Russian pro-war publics are discussing how one of the goals of the Ukrainian Armed Forces could be the destruction of the Sudzha gas metering station, through which Russia supplies gas to Europe.
Russian media also reported that two churches of the Gornalsky Monastery were destroyed during Ukrainian shelling. According to the Ukrainian OSINT project Deep Statethe Russian infantry that had taken up residence in the monastery was destroyed.
“Information has emerged that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are moving forces to the border for a second powerful attack on the Kursk region,” the Russian telegram channel VChK-OGPU reported the previous evening.
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian regions have been regularly subjected to shelling and drone attacks. Yesterday, August 6, Ukrainian tanks and armored vehicles “attempted to break through” to the Kursk region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. Ukrainian troops managed to capture at least two Russian conscripts. Kyiv has not officially commented on this.
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