08/08/14 MOSCOW – Russian forces were engaged with Ukrainian troops for the third consecutive day on Thursday after the formidable advance into Russia’s Kursk territory, an incursion into one of the world’s most nuclear-armed nations that prompted the Russian President to mobilize reserves.
The Kyiv forces’ cross-border assault was one of the largest Ukrainian offensives against Russia in the nearly two-year war, Russian officials said, describing a coordinated infiltration by about 1,000 Ukrainian ground troops in the predawn hours of August.
The advancing Ukraine forces were spearheaded by tanks and armored personnel carriers and camouflaged by drones and artillery support, according to Russia.
Ukrainian forces advanced across the fields and forests to the north of the border town of Sudzha, which was the last actual transshipment point of Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine.
This attack was depicted by President Vladimir Putin as a major provocation. The White House stated that the United States, opening a new tab—Ukraine’s main supporter—had no prior information of the attack and would request more information from Kyiv.
Russia’s most senior general, chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, informed Putin on Wednesday that the Ukrainian offense has been stopped in the border region.
Moscow stated that through the ministry of defense, the army and FSB have managed to counter the advancement of Ukraine’s military, and they are waging a war against Ukrainian forces in the course of the Kursk region.
“Motorized formations of the Northern group of forces, jointly with FSB of Russia, the process of extermination of armed formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Sudzhensky and Korenevsky districts of the Kursk region in the immediate vicinity of the Russian-Ukrainian border,” the ministry said.
