PressSplit
Since Ukraine attacked Kursk, Putin has been in trouble in his own country. Since the Kremlin denied the offensive, local residents are now turning to Putin with a video appeal.
Kiev/Moscow – By crossing the border into the Russian region of Kursk on Wednesday (7 August), the Ukrainian armed forces managed to carry out a rare relief attack to defend their country in the Ukraine war. Since Volodymyr Selenskyj’s troops arrived in the western Russian border region, they have been able to take control of several villages in Kursk, according to international media reports. Vladimir Putin then declared a state of emergency for the oblast in the far west Russia’s and strengthened the protection of the nuclear power plant on site.
The Kremlin also decided – certainly to its disadvantage – to initially deny the Ukrainian Kursk offensive and instead pretend to have the situation in the region “under control”. Ukraine in Kursk, more than 80 armored vehicles were destroyed, and around 700 Ukrainian soldiers were wounded or killed, the Russian Defense Ministry announced via Telegram after the start of the Kursk Offensive. But even on the third day of the Kursk Offensive, the Kremlin seems far from being able to offer any decisive response to the advancing Ukrainians.
Residents of Kursk send video appeal to Putin – he is “not aware” of the situation on the ground
Now concerned residents of the besieged Kursk have sent an urgent appeal to the Kremlin via video message, as Business Insider reported. There, the affected residents point out that the armed conflicts in their home region are far more intense than Russian officials have been willing to admit up to now. The almost five-minute clip was shared by the Russian channel “Native Sudzha”, which reports on regional news from Kursk, on the messenger service Telegram.
Russian soldiers shoot at an air target in Avdiivka (symbolic image) © IMAGO/Stanislav Krasilnikov
More than two dozen people from Sudzhansky District gathered in the video released on Thursday (August 8), saying Putin was not sufficiently informed about how dire the situation is for local civilians as Ukrainian troops continue to advance across the border into Russia.
“The Chief of General Staff recently told us that the situation was under control,” said a Kursk resident in the video, according to the US media’s translation CNN“But even today, fierce fighting is taking place in the Sudzhansky and Korenevsky districts,” she added in her message.
Local residents do not rely on information from Russian authorities on the Kursk offensive
Residents said they were left homeless as a result of the Ukrainian attack and had to rely on messages from Telegram channels rather than local authorities for their own safety. “We were left alone with our children, with no place to go, no compensation and no money. We fled with only the clothes on our backs,” one resident said in the video, according to CNN-Translation.
Many said they were unable to take their identity or travel documents with them because they had to be evacuated very suddenly and as quickly as possible. They also criticized the Russian authorities for having known that Ukraine had been massing its forces on the border with Russia in recent days.
Another Kursk resident addressed Putin directly, claiming that people from Guevo, a town in Sudzha District less than 50 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, were not evacuated by the authorities and were therefore stranded in the midst of the fighting. According to international media reports, Guevo is one of a dozen Russian villages currently under Ukrainian control.
Selenskyj also comments on Kursk – Russia must feel “what it has done to Ukraine”
It is difficult to track how far the Ukrainian troops have advanced in Kursk due to a lack of and incorrect information from the Russian side. Nevertheless, some Ukrainian armored vehicles have now been spotted, advancing up to fifteen kilometers into Russian territory. According to Russian sources, Ukraine began the attack with around 1,000 soldiers and around 40 armored vehicles – including tanks.
Ukraine War: The Origins of the Conflict with Russia
View photo gallery
Well-known Russian military correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny was seriously injured in a kamikaze drone attack on his vehicle in Kursk and is still in a local hospital. Putin made public statements after crossing the Ukrainian border and called the Kursk offensive a “large-scale provocation” against the Kremlin.
The Kremlin also called on the international community to condemn the Ukrainian attack on Kursk. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Selensky and other Ukrainian officials have also spoken out about the Kursk offensive. In a video address on Thursday evening, Selensky said that Russia “must feel what it has done to Ukraine.” However, Selensky did not mention the invasion of his armed forces into the Kursk region by name. (fh)
