In a bold move on Thursday, Ukrainian engineers supported by drones and tanks breached Russian defenses along the Russia-Ukraine border, 20 miles west of Ukraine’s 400-square-mile salient in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
The surprise Ukrainian operation, essentially a smaller-scale repeat of the Aug. 6 Ukrainian invasion of Kursk, met with much greater success than the initial evidence—a few short drone videos—implied.
The initial evidence indicated the Ukrainians breached the border defenses—berms, trenches and concrete tank obstacles—only to run into stiffer Russian resistance a short distance from the breach. The Kremlin claimed its troops defeated the Ukrainian attack “with the support of army aviation and artillery fire.”
The Ukrainian Khorne drone group, which supported the breaching operation, rejected the Kremlin’s claim—and criticized the media that covered the breach on Thursday. The reporters who cited the Kremlin’s claim are “hysterics who lack information or [are] paid pro-Russian psyops,” the group insisted.
As proof the Russians didn’t immediately defeat the Ukrainian incursion, the Khorne group posted a longer video depicting a Ukrainian armored column rolling through the breach and then speeding along the roads leading to the town of Veseloe, three miles from the border.
It seems at least one armored vehicle suffered damage, but the others ignored nearby artillery impacts and penetrated as far as the southern edge of Veseloe.
It’s unclear whether the Ukrainians advanced any farther on Thursday or Friday—and whether they were still in Veseloe or some nearby settlement as Saturday dawned.
Khorne projected strength. “We’ve advanced into new areas, by kilometers, into Russia,” the group stated. “A group of Russian conscripts numbering in the thousands is at risk of being encircled.” It’s not yet possible to independently verify that claim.
What is clear is that, for at least a few hours on Thursday—if not longer—Ukrainian troops invaded Russia for the second time in five weeks. The Ukrainian operation toward Veseloe kicked off just one day after Russian forces counterattacked the Ukrainians’ main salient in Kursk Oblast, ultimately recapturing a few outlying settlements.
How the Veseloe op might alter the dynamics of the chaotic fighting around the main salient remains to be seen. In the best case for Ukraine, a fresh cross-border attack might divert Russian troops from their counterattacks farther to the east.
In the worst case for Ukraine, the Kremlin’s claim was accurate—and the incursion into Veseloe, while initially successful, has already ended in a Ukrainian retreat.
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