Heavy fighting raged inside Russia on Thursday after Ukrainian armored forces reportedly advanced six miles into Russian territory and seized several small villages.
The incursion, captured on video posted online and reported by Russian officials and military analysts, prompted the local governor to declare a state of emergency. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin met Wednesday with top military and security officials to strategize against the attack.
The surprise attack was seen as an attempt by Ukraine to turn the tide by invading Moscow's territory. Russia surprised Ukraine in May by sending troops to the border north of Kharkiv, where Russia still has a small foothold.
Ukraine has remained largely silent about the offensive that began on Tuesday, and its military has not acknowledged that it has troops stationed in Russia.
The incursion marks the Ukrainian military's third major ground attack on Russian territory since the country's full-scale invasion began more than two years ago, but it appears to be the largest yet, according to open-source intelligence analysts who have studied photos and videos from the Russian area under attack – an area of ​​farmland, forests and small towns.
Some analysts estimate that Ukraine has sent hundreds of troops to Russia, a significant commitment at a time when Ukrainian forces are under intense pressure on the southern and eastern fronts of the country.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that it had destroyed Ukrainian military units and was repelling the attack, though these claims could not be independently verified.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's administration commented for the first time on the incursion in a statement by a senior adviser on Thursday, but did not acknowledge Ukraine's role.
He portrayed Russians as collectively supporting Putin's invasion.
Adviser Mykhailo Podoljak said the attack was “an opportunity for ordinary Russians to see how they interact with the current Russian regime,” adding that Russians would not “go out to greet anti-Putin tanks with flowers” and that one million Russians had volunteered to serve in the Russian army.
Analysts and Russian military bloggers have said the Ukrainian invasion would involve regular army units and would be different from previous incursions carried out by militias of Russian exiles backed by Kiev's military.
Fighting has raged, leading Alexei Smirnov, acting governor of Russia's Kursk region, to declare a state of emergency late on Wednesday to “liquidate the consequences of hostile forces' aggression on the territory of the region.”
In a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app, Smirnov said “the operational situation remains difficult” in the border areas, but did not specify where or how intense the fighting was.
Since the incursion began, Russian officials have wavered between asserting that the attack has been repelled or will soon be repelled, while acknowledging the scale of the breakthrough along the border, the Institute for the Study of War said in a research report on Wednesday.
This likely reflects a balancing act between calling out Ukraine for what Putin calls “provocative acts” and risking public anger over a breakdown in security, U.S.-based analysis group ISW wrote.
Photos and videos posted online and verified by independent military analysts suggest that Ukrainian forces have breached border defenses in the area and are operating on roads inside Russia.
Prominent Russian military blogger Rybal reported last night that Ukrainian forces had captured the western outskirts of the region's main city, Suzha, a claim that could not be independently verified.
A video filmed by a Russian drone and posted by a Russian military blogger who writes under the handle “Dva Mayora” (“Two Majors”), shows a damaged U.S.-made armored vehicle parked at a road junction six miles into Russia. The video, which could not be independently verified, was posted purporting to show that Russian forces had successfully attacked a Ukrainian armored convoy.
It is unclear whether Ukrainian forces plan to fortify positions to defend Russian territory or to withdraw, but there are reports that they have taken prisoners and destroyed Russian border checkpoints.
The attack has led some military analysts to question why Ukraine would commit scarce troops and resources to a risky offensive that would open a new front at a time when it is fighting fiercely to defend its own territory.
Both sides have been redeploying troops from the front line in eastern Ukraine to new combat zones following Russia's cross-border attack on Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, in May.
