[Financial News]
Ukraine has launched a large-scale offensive against Russia.
Ukrainian military forces advanced into the Russian region of Kursk on the 7th local time.
The day before, Ukrainian forces unleashed missile and drone attacks on Russian territory, and now they are conducting operations in Russian territory in earnest.
As a result, Russia had to withdraw some of its troops from the Ukrainian front line and redeploy them to the Kursk region.
There are speculations that Ukraine’s shift to a large-scale offensive may have been driven by a sense of urgency stemming from former U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Ukraine should realistically end the war in a way that Russia desires and that he may win the presidential election on November 5th.
According to CNN and the Financial Times (FT), Russia stated that Ukrainian forces crossed the border and invaded the Kursk region.
During the over two-year-long war, Ukraine had not previously advanced into Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian Investigative Committee (RIC), and the Russian Children’s Ombudsman stated that Ukrainian forces launched a “large-scale attack” on October 6th, attempting to breach the Russian defense line in the Kursk border area.
Russian President Vladimir Putin characterized the recent attack as a “large-scale provocation,” claiming that Ukraine is indiscriminately attacking civilian and residential buildings, ambulances, and other targets with various weapons.
However, Ukraine has not commented on this matter, and it remains uncertain whether Ukrainian forces have advanced into Russian territory, secured strongholds, or damaged strategic targets, as reported by foreign media.
It has also not been confirmed whether Ukrainian forces are still present in Russian territory.
The news of Ukraine attacking Russian territory came from the Russian side.
Russian authorities and military bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces through ground and aerial attacks approached within about 10 kilometers of the 5,000 residents near the village of Sudzha.
According to CNN, video footage confirmed damage to buildings on the border zone and the village of Sudzha due to shelling.
Another video showed Ukrainian forces approaching the village, but it remains uncertain whether they entered or took control of the village, as reported by CNN.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that around 300 Ukrainian troops, supported by tanks and armored vehicles, attacked Russian troops stationed near the villages of Nikolaevka-Darno and Oleshnia.
Initially, the Ministry claimed that Russia repelled the attack, but later amended the statement, saying that the “enemies are suffering from fire damage.”
Quoting Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency reported that President Putin said, “Ukrainian forces were prevented from deep incursion into Russian territory.”
The sudden Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory is of uncertain motive, but there are speculations that it might be a bold strategic shift to reverse the front line situation and create a favorable situation before the U.S. presidential election.