Information from Thursday indicated Ukrainian forces are in the Russian town of Sudzha, with reports of Ukrainian troops spotted as fas as the village of Ivnitsa, about 24 km inside Russia.
Ukrainian incursions into Russian territory have been rare since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. This week’s advance has sparked alarm in the Kremlin.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged Russian forces to capture Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on his Telegram channel after the attack. “This is no longer just an operation to retake our official territories and punish the Nazis. It is possible and necessary to go to the lands of the still existing Ukraine. To Odesa, to Kharkiv, to Dnipropetrovsk, to Mykolaiv. To Kyiv and beyond,” Medvedev wrote.
“The current military campaign will also end in Russia’s unconditional victory,” Medvedev added on X.
The goal of the Ukrainian operation is still unclear, but it has thrown Russian forces into disarray.
“It’s good that Ukraine is taking actions that surprise the Russians,” retired Polish General Roman Polko, the former commander of Poland’s special forces, told the Polish Press Agency. “Ukraine is in a defensive position and is unable to conduct an operation to push Russia from the occupied regions, but Ukraine is defending itself in an active way … One can’t allow the Russians to comfortably prepare new attacks.”
He said he has heard words of caution from Ukraine’s allies that Kyiv may have crossed a red line by attacking inside Russia. “You can’t be a boxer and fight in the ring with one arm tied behind your back,” the general added.
According to Smirnov, the Kursk governor, prominent pro-war reporter and propagandist Evgeniy Poddubnyy was wounded in the fighting in the region and transferred to a hospital in Moscow.
