Fierce fighting in Kursk Kremlin is confident of victory, but even Putin's own people have doubts

The situation in the Kursk region is unclear. The Kremlin is telling the outside world that the situation is clear - but its own military bloggers disagree.

In view of the ongoing attacks by Ukrainian forces on the western Russian border region of Kursk since Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Kiev of a "large-scale provocation". "As you know, the Kiev regime has undertaken another large-scale provocation," Putin said in a televised meeting with government representatives on Wednesday. Ukraine was also firing at civilian targets.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that around 300 Ukrainian soldiers, supported by eleven tanks and more than 20 armoured vehicles, had advanced across the border. However, they did not get far and suffered heavy losses.

The army and border guards are still in the process of destroying the intruders. According to the Ministry of Defense, Russia will be victorious. This information could not be verified. Ukrainian government representatives refused to comment.

Evidence is doubted

However, Russian military bloggers, who have proven to be experts on the war situation, assess the situation differently. They also stated that Ukrainian soldiers were in Kursk. The Rybar Telegram channel run by retired press officer Mikhail Svinchuk wrote that Ukrainian troops had captured three settlements in the region and were continuing to fight their way forward. The pro-Kremlin military blog "Two Majors" wrote that Ukrainian soldiers had advanced up to 15 kilometers into the region - a clear contradiction to the Ministry of Defense. This information could not be verified either.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War doubted the authenticity of footage used by Russian military bloggers to prove the attacks. Most of the damage shown "appears to be the result of routine Ukrainian shelling and does not indicate ground activity in the area," the ISW wrote, stating that it could not confirm that the damaged and abandoned vehicles shown in images originated in Ukraine.

Because of the fighting, the local governor has called on residents to donate blood. The region is defending itself heroically, wrote Alexei Smirnov on Telegram, emergency services are on alert and blood banks are stocking up their stocks.

Further thinning out?

If the reports of an advance into Russia are true, Ukraine may be trying to lure Russian reserve units into the area in order to weaken the Russian attacks in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. However, such an action could further thin out the already outnumbered Ukrainian troops on the more than 1000-kilometer-long front.

Units of obscure origin had already advanced into Russia last year. According to Ukrainian sources, these were the groups "Russian Volunteer Corps" and "Russian Freedom Legion", which were made up exclusively of Russians. Although they were eventually repelled, they caused damage and embarrassed the Russian authorities.

dpa