This is the first case since the World War II when the army of another country invaded Russia — thatʼs how Bloomberg described the situation in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation.
They added that "about a thousand Ukrainian soldiers" entered the Kursk region. The Ukrainian General Staff does not officially confirm or deny its involvement in the events in Russia.
Bloomberg believes that this episode showed the fragility of the defense of the Russian border, undermined the image of Putin created by the Kremlin as a defender of ordinary Russians, and raised Ukrainian morale.
The publication also suggests that this situation will most likely reinforce Kyivʼs argument that American and European allies should not be afraid of the Kremlinʼs threats of escalation, but instead should allow Ukraine to fight in any way it can to speed up the end of the war.
For the third day, hostilities continue in the Kursk region. Today, August 8, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed for the first time the deaths of soldiers in the Kursk region and the loss of several settlements. Meanwhile, Russian telegram channels write that the combat zone has expanded to 430 square kilometers, over which the Russians have almost completely lost control. Before that, Putin urgently convened the Security Council of the Russian Federation and declared that there was a "large-scale provocation" by the "Kyiv regime".
The day before, the Russians wrote about the loss of control over more than 10 settlements, in particular the district center — the city of Sudzha, as well as the gas measuring station "Sudzha" — the only station through which the Russian Federation transits its gas to Europe.
Also, Russian military "bloggers" emphasized that the enemy managed to break through the defensive fortifications in the Kursk region, on which 15 billion rubles were spent, within a day.
Reaction of the EU and the USA
Peter Stano, the spokesman for the European Commission on foreign policy issues, said that Ukraine "has a legitimate right to defend itself, in particular by striking at an aggressor on its territory." And the EU supports this right.
The US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also commented on the situation. According to him, the States "are in contact with Ukraine" regarding the events in the Kursk region. He also emphasized that Ukraine itself decides how to conduct its operations.