Cross-Border Raid Shakes Russia’s Kursk Region – MASHAHER

Russia claims it repelled an armored attack inside its borders. The fighting took place in the Kursk region abutting Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast.

Starting at 8 a.m. local time, ”up to 300 Ukrainian militants of the AFU 22nd Mechanised Brigade supported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armored fighting vehicles launched an attack following preparatory fire at the positions of the Russian State Border Covering Force near Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya (Kursk region) immediately adjacent to the border between Russia and Ukraine,” the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) claimed on Telegram. “The Kyiv regime’s attempts to launch terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation were thwarted.”

The War Zone cannot independently verify that claim and Ukrainian officials have yet to comment.

Based on available videos, it appears that the cross-border raid involved Ukrainian Humvees as well as wheeled armored personnel carriers, which may be either from the BTR series or possibly U.S.-supplied Strykers.

Earlier today, acting governor of the Kursk region Alexei Smirnov said that Russian border guards and soldiers had thwarted an incursion into Sudzha and Korenevo — two districts in the Kursk region.

“The situation in the border area remains difficult, but our defenders are successfully working to destroy the enemy,” Smirnov wrote on Telegram.

Smirnov said that shelling killed one woman and wounded several others near the border with the Sumy region. He later also claimed that a Ukrainian drone attacked a minivan, killing the driver.

Subsequently, Smirnov increased the civilian death toll to three, after another vehicle was hit, and also said that more than a dozen others had been injured.

Ukrainian sources claim that they destroyed an observation post during the raid.

Though neither top Ukrainian political nor military leaders commented about the incursion, Andrii Kovalenko, the head of an anti-disinformation department at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council hinted that it happened.

“Russian soldiers are lying about the controllability of the situation in the Kursk region,” he said on Telegram. “Russia does not control the border.”

At least one video shows a pair of Russian Su-25 Frogfoot attack aircraft operating at very low level in the Kursk region, together with columns of smoke and at least one burning truck on the highway.

There have been unconfirmed reports that the forces entering Russian territory from Ukraine are being provided cover by Ukrainian Armed Forces Buk-M1 (SA-11 Gadfly) mobile surface-to-air missile systems. Further claims suggest that one of these systems was successfully neutralized by Russia, using some kind of cluster weapon.

Despite Russian efforts to downplay the significance of the incursion, it seems that a more concerted military response was prepared, with the Russian Ministry of Defense Ministry saying today that it sent reserve troops and additional aviation units into the Kursk region.

There are already reports suggesting that a significant number of Russian troops — including conscripts — were captured in the course of the raid and have been escorted across the border into Ukraine.

This was not the first time Russia has had to deal with an attempt to advance across the border. A notable attack was launched into Kursk by Ukrainian-backed armed groups back in March. Other previous incursions took place in Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions.

Russia typically blames Ukrainian combatants for incursions of this kind, however, multiple reports indicate that previous cross-border raids have also involved paramilitary groups formed by anti-Kremlin Russian nationals.

If Ukraine provides any details about the incursion, we will update our reporting.

Before diving into more developments from the conflict in Ukraine, The War Zone readers can review our previous coverage here.

The Latest

On the battlefield, most of the fighting and positional changes are in Donetsk Oblast. Russian forces there continue their push toward two key cities, Pokrovsk and Toretsk, according to the latest assessment from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

• Donetsk Oblast: Russian forces have recently made significant tactical advances in the Toretsk direction. “Additional geolocated footage published on August 4 shows that Russian forces have advanced westward across Shkilna Street towards and across Tsentralna Street in western Pivnichne,” east of Toretsk, ISW reported. Russian forces reportedly continue to advance east of Pokrovsk on August 5, “and Russian sources claimed that Russian forces are closer to completing a tactical encirclement of Ukrainian forces near the T-0511 (O-054) road southeast of Pokrovsk,” according to ISW. Russians recently made a marginal advance west of Donetsk City amid continued offensive operations west and southwest of Donetsk City on August 5. They continued limited offensive operations in the Siversk direction on August 5 but did not make any confirmed advances nor did they make any confirmed advances near Chasiv Yar.

• Kherson Oblast: Russian forces continued ground assaults on the east (left) bank of the Dnipro River on August 4 and 5, including on the islands in the Dnipro River Delta, but there were no confirmed changes to the frontline.

New photos and video emerged showing the extent of the destruction at Morozovsk Air Base, in Russia’s Rostov region after it was struck by Ukrainian forces late last week, an incident you can read more about here. Earlier satellite imagery had confirmed that the base had been hit, and a secure storage site in its northwest corner was badly damaged. Now we can see that, as the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff had suggested, the airfield’s weapons storage facility was indeed obliterated and aircraft damaged. You can see those new images and videos in our latest story on the incident here.

In the video below, produced by NATO, Ukrainian pilots talk about what it was like to be trained by the Danes to fly F-16 Vipers.

“It is really a super fun jet to fly,” said one pilot with the callsign Moonfish. “I’m not saying the MiG I flew before is super boring. But the F-16 is definitely more agile.”

The jets are now flying for the Ukrainian Air Force. You can read more about that here.

Ukraine made several modifications to U.S.-donated 31 Abrams M1A1 tanks to help them survive on the battlefield. Among them was adding Soviet-designed explosive reactive armor (ERA) tiles. The Abrams in the video below, operated by Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, features extensive ERA tiling on its turret. Beyond that, what makes this video so interesting is it offers a rarely-seen glimpse into the Abrams tanks operating on the battlefield. Nearly a third of them are out of commission, according to the Oryx open-source tracking group.

At least four have been damaged, one destroyed and six damaged and abandoned, according to Oryx. Those figures could be higher because they only tabulate losses for which there is visual confirmation.

There is more evidence that Russian troops are using the Discord messaging app as a combat management system. Popular with gamers Discord allows users to operate their own channels, public or private and share screens as a means of streaming content.

This video shows the Russians watching a drone feed of a burning vehicle.

Speaking of battlefield communications, a Russian commander recently nailed his soldiers’ cell phones to a tree. Russian leadership has banned troops in the field from carrying them and other internet-facing devices because of how vulnerable they are to detection and psychological operations. Those caught using them face up to 15 days of detention.

In May, we told you how a report from Ukrainian state prosecutors found that around half of the North Korean KN-23 SRBMs — also known as Hwasong-11 — launched by Russia not only deviated from their trajectory but also exploded in midair. Now the suggestion is being raised that one reason is that the missiles had rudder bearings made for Toyota automobiles instead of for the high temperatures and material strain exerted by a ballistic missile.

Images have emerged on social media offering the best proof yet that Ukraine’s Su-27 Flankers are carrying U.S.-made GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs (SDB) on a standard BRU-61/A rack. Those are designed to hold up to four of these 250-pound-class weapons.

Previously the bombs were seen on Ukrainian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters. You can read more about that here.

Ukraine for the first time released video of its Su-24 Fencer combat jets launching U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow conventionally armed cruise missiles.

Ukraine also released the first image of its Skynex air defense systems. Provided by Germany and made by Rheinmetall, the Skynex system comprises a 35mm anti-aircraft turret firing AHEAD ammunition based on an HX 6×6 truck chassis and integrated with an X-TAR3D acquisition radar and the Skymaster battle management system.

Germany has so far provided two Skynex systems plus ammunition to Ukraine.

After being struck by Ukraine, a Russian Buk anti-aircraft system cooked off its effectors in spectacular fashion, with the streams of smoke resembling the legs of a very large spider.

And finally, they say that dogs are man’s best friend, but this German Shepherd makes a heck of a battlefield training partner as well.

That’s it for now.

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