The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement at about midday Moscow time that indicated that fighting against Ukrainian forces that crossed the border into Russia on Aug. 6 is far from over. Over the previous 24 hours, “active actions of the State Border Covering Force along with border units, reinforcement units and arrived reserves, air and missile strikes, and artillery fire prevented the enemy from advancing,” the statement said. Ukrainian losses amounted to 400 troops, bringing the total 660 since the operation began, and 32 armored vehicles of various types, bringing the total to 82. A day earlier, the ministry reported that among the vehicles destroyed were two U.S.-supplied Stryker armored personnel carriers.
Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of the Kursk region, reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a late afternoon meeting today on the emergency actions his region is taking to protect civilians affected by the incursion in the districts bordering Ukraine. Evacuating people “was quite a difficult job, because the Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups are firing at civilians and ambulances that are evacuating the population at the cost of their own lives: there are cases where medical personnel have been killed,” he said.
The U.S. response, so far, has amounted to letting the Kiev regime do what it wants without criticism. “I’ll let the Ukrainians speak to their operations one way or the other. That’s most appropriate. So I would refer you to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to speak to what they’re doing,” White House National Security Communications Advisor told reporters yesterday. “We’re going to stay focused on making sure they have what they need to defend themselves, of course. And I would also just add that nothing has changed about our policy with respect to enabling or encouraging strikes or attacks inside Russia, outside the bounds, of course, of what we have permitted them to do with U.S.-supplied weapons in the past, which is to target imminent threats just across the border.
