A convoy of Ukrainian armoured vehicles carrying jubilant troops was captured trundling through Russia’s Kursk region in a fresh humiliation for Vladimir Putin after Volodymyr Zelensky‘s forces launched a surprise assault earlier this week.
Tanks, armoured personnel carriers, a UR-77 mine-clearing vehicle and other army equipment were seen surging through a rural area in footage taken by a Ukrainian mortar position and shared to Telegram this morning.
Kyiv’s forces stormed across the border on Tuesday morning, deploying around 1,000 troops and more than two dozen armoured vehicles and tanks in an unexpected assault on Russian soil, according to the Russian army.
Thousands of Russians are evacuating the region amid complaints that Putin’s armed and security forces have failed to protect them.
The key gas transit town of Sudzha is under partial Ukrainian control and almost ringed by its forces as Kyiv’s troops advanced up to six miles into Russian territory – the most serious border incursion of the conflict so far, the Institute for the Study of War said today.
There have been scant updates on the conflict from officials in Moscow.
But Russian military bloggers, who have links to the army, also reported Kyiv had made significant advances and lamented deteriorating circumstances.
‘The situation is complicated and continues to worsen,’ blogger Yury Podolyaka said in a post on Telegram.
He said the town of Sudzha was ‘full of Ukrainian soldiers’.
‘Sudzha has been completely lost,’ he said.
‘The enemy is entrenching, indicating that the fighting is likely to be long-term,’ the Dva Mayora Telegram channel said.
