The Kursk Oblast city of Lgov came under fire Thursday, the 10th day of Ukraine’s invasion of this Russian region. Videos and images emerged on social media showing explosions and damage. Located 30 miles north of the border and about 10 miles north of Ukraine’s most recently claimed advance, Lgov is an important logistical hub for Russia. It has rail lines and a key highway connecting the city with the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Kurchatov 15 miles to the east.
Russian military media happened to be in Lgov at the time it was struck and recorded the event. One video shows a reporter hearing the sound of an incoming munition, ducking for cover, and then running to escape. Another shows a plume of black smoke rising a short distance away.
Based on the geolocation of the Russian news crew’s video, there was a suggestion that a railway station was being targeted. The War Zone could not verify that claim. However, as we reported yesterday, Russia is facing a collapse of railroad systems in regions bordering Ukraine and Belarus after losing hundreds of square miles of territory.
There are wildly conflicting reports about what caused the explosions.
“Air defense forces on duty repelled an attack by air targets with cluster munitions,” Lgov Mayor Alexey Klmenshov said on his Russian social media page. “As a result of falling debris, four people were injured – two were hospitalized and two are undergoing outpatient treatment. There are no children among the injured. Houses, cars and a sports facility were damaged. The extent of the damage is being clarified.”
Klemenshov added a warning to avoid approaching “suspicious objects.”
“Those wishing to leave the city, contact the city administration,” he added.
“Ukrainian missile shot down over Lgov in Kursk region,” acting Kursk Gov. Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram.
Another unconfirmed claim is that the city was attacked by a U.S.-donated M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which was then destroyed after its Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) munitions were launched.
The Russian Important Stories news outlet claimed on Telegram that a HIMARS was destroyed in Sumy, just across the border from Kursk, but did not mention what it was targeting. The War Zone cannot independently verify these claims.
Meanwhile, a prominent Ukrainian journalist claimed the damage caused in Lgov was from the Russian Air Force.
“The ‘second army of the world’ once again had a FAB-500 air bomb fall right onto a children’s playground,” Yuriy Butusov wrote on Telegram. “Something similar has already happened many times in the Belgorod region, where both KABs and FABs fell near populated areas. Now the Russian Air Force has taken up its old tricks and is already bombing the Kursk region. But, of course, it seems to be HIMARS.”
The Ukrainian Militinaryi news outlet pointed to the photo of a crater seen below as an example that a GLMLRS could not have caused the damage, but that a Russian bomb did. Ukraine also has standoff munitions, like JDAM-ERs, that can fly dozens of miles before impacting.
If Lgov was indeed hit by Ukraine, it is another indication of how important this city is for both sides. Yesterday, we reported that Russian forces began building a series of trenches and anti-tank ditches along the key E38 highway to blunt a possible Ukrainian advance this far. Should that happen, a lot more territory would have been lost by Russia. If it turns out that Lgov was hit by a Russian bomb, it is at the very least another sign that the war is creeping closer.
Ukrainian troops are edging nearer to Lgov, Important Stories reported on Telegram.
“Fighting is underway 30 km (18.6 miles) from the border and not far from the important Lgov-Rylsk highway,” the outlet stated.
The deepest point of Ukrainian penetration is nearly 20 miles, according to Important Stories, adding that the width of the conflict zone is about 40 miles. That roughly lines up with the most recent assessment from the Institute for the Study of War.
As usual, Ukraine and Russia offered conflicting analyses of the state of the invasion on Thursday.
“We have a new advance,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday in his daily message, without offering any details. “We have a new replenishment of our ‘exchange fund,'” a reference to additional Russian prisoners of war (POWs)
General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukrainian forces, “also reported on the completion of the liberation of the town of Sudzha from the Russian military. Several other settlements have also been liberated. In total, there are already more than 80 of them. I thank every warrior of ours who ensures all this.”
The Russian MoD continues to say that “operation to neutralize the (Armed Forces of Ukraine) AFU units” is in progress.
“The Sever Group’s intensive operations, air and artillery strikes have repelled an attack launched by assault detachments of the 115th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU in the direction of Kremyanoye,” the Russian MoD claimed on Telegram. “Russian troops have repelled further enemy attacks by hitting concentration areas of the 82nd Air Assault Brigade south of Kremyanoye and of the 80th Air Assault Brigade west of Russkaya Konopelka.”
The MoD also claimed it restored control over the village of Krupets and “foiled” Ukrainian attempts to break through to several other towns.
In addition, it said it struck several Ukrainian logistics locations in Sumy Oblast, which abuts Kursk.
Both sides have set up new commands to handle the invasion.
“A Ukrainian military commandant’s office is being established” in the town of Sudzha, Zelensky said, without offering any details about how it would work and what forces it would control.
Russia has set up what appears to be an even more comprehensive new command structure to cope with the invasion and attacks in other border regions.
“According to my order, the Coordination Council for military security of the border territories – Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions – has been established in the Ministry of Defense,” Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousv said on Telegram. “Its purpose is to improve the efficiency of comprehensive support of the groups of forces, solving the tasks of protecting the state border, protection of the territory, and population of the regions.”
The council is tasked with organizing “the effective provision” of “weapons, military and special equipment, means of defeat, and logistical support means demanded by the troops.”
It will also coordinate “interdepartmental cooperation in the build-up of troops and forces in the event of an increase or occurrence of threats to cross the state border.” In addition, it will provide medical support and engineering equipment for the affected territories and greater protection for civilians “from enemy drone attacks and shelling.”
The council will not have operational control, said Belousov, adding that it remained the task of the Sever Group of Forces as well as the Russian General Staff.
Speaking of Russian generals, there is speculation that Moscow is about to open up criminal cases against some for the failures in Kursk.
Acting Kursk Gov. Alexie Smirnov ordered the evacuation of more residents.
He previously said that 121,000 people had been evacuated or left Kursk Oblast on their own, adding that authorities are planning to evacuate 180,000 people from the region, according to the Kyiv Independent.
To defend against the invasion, Russia is moving troops from other regions, a U.S. defense official told us, without offering any specifics about how many or exactly where they are coming from.
“We have seen Russia move some troops out of Ukraine to deal with the incursion but I’m not going to do military analysis from here,” the official said. “I defer to Ukraine to speak to their military operations.”
The Pentagon has been “in close touch with Ukrainian officials, as you might expect we would be, and will continue those conversations,” the official added. “We were not engaged in any aspect of the planning or preparation of this operation. We have supported Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against attacks that are coming from across the border, which is common sense, and to take action to protect itself from these attacks. We will continue to stay focused on making sure they have what they need to defend themselves from Russia’s attacks and I’ll leave it there.”
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby offered a similar assessment that Russia is moving troops out of Ukraine to quell the invasion and added that so far, the U.S. has yet to see Russian President Vladimir Putin react by changing the posture of his nuclear forces.
“We have not seen or heard any escalatory rhetoric, particularly around nuclear weapons, in recent days,” said Kirby. “We haven’t seen or heard anything that would cause us to change our own strategic deterrent posture or calculus.”
Asked by a reporter on Thursday what the Pentagon assesses as the goal for this operation, Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said U.S. officials are still trying to ascertain that.
“We, too are trying to learn more about their objectives and goals,” she said.
Ukraine continued its mechanized attacks on Belgorod as well, with more reported attempts by Ukraine to break through border crossings.
One such incident was in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district.
Ukraine offered no official comment, but a prominent Russian Telegram channel said the effort was thwarted.
“Last night in the Belgorod region, Ukrainian formations launched another attack on the Kolotilovka checkpoint in the Krasnoyarsk district – unlike previous attempts, this time the enemy even managed to occupy the checkpoint for a short period,” the Kremlin-connected Rybar Telegram channel reported. “Russian troops, acting with the support of armored vehicles and aircraft, drove the Ukrainian Armed Forces units from the territory of the crossing – the Ukrainian formations, under the blows of UAVs and artillery, hastily retreated towards Pokrovka in the Sumy region.”
There are also claims that Ukrainian forces entered another part of Belgorod, at the village of Vyazovoye, though it remains unclear the status of that advance.
“Locals promptly deny information about the occupation of the village of Vyazovoe,” the Russian Alex Parker Returns Telegram channel wrote. “But in the morning there were battles near the border, as a result of which [Ukrainians] were unable to pass and retreated to the starting points.”
The push into that region suggests “an even larger scale to the offensive, which is changing perceptions abroad that Ukraine has been on the losing end of the conflict,” The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
“In contrast to the relatively easier time had by Ukraine’s forces in Kursk…the fighting in Belgorod has been fierce.”
An important bridge across the Seim River in Kursk was struck by Ukraine.
“At night, the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck the bridge over the Seim River in the regional center of Glushkovo with a Himars MLRS,” the Russian Important Stories news outlet reported. “This is an important logistical artery for Russian troops in the region.”
The bridge, however, was not destroyed.
The video below shows that the roadway was damaged, but still driveable.
In another sign of how serious Ukraine is taking this invasion, it has committed U.K-donated Challenger 2 tanks to the fight, according to Sky News.
“It is believed to be the first time British tanks – operated by Ukrainian soldiers – have been used in combat on Russian territory,” the publication reported, adding that the U.K. MoD declined to comment.
The use of Challenger 2 tanks in Kursk highlights the risk Kyiv took in launching its invasion because it only received 14 of them.
On Wednesday, Russia released video claiming to show the destruction of a Challenger 2 in Kursk.
This would be only the second known loss of a Challenger 2 fighting Russians. The first loss was recorded in Ukraine in September 2023. That appears to be the only one up until now, according to the Oryx open-source tracking group. However, more could have been lost because Oryx only tabulates losses for which it has visual confirmation.
Ukraine’s Security Service’s (SBU) elite Alpha Group special operations forces unit said it captured 102 Russian troops in the Kursk region.
Those captured troops abandoned some well-fortified positions.
Ukraine isn’t just hauling in POWs. As its invasion pushes on, it is also capturing a number of vehicles, some being repaired and returned to the fight against Russia.
Among those vehicles was Russia’s newest tank, a T-90M Proryv, according to Butusov. He said it was renamed “Pirozhok” and is participating in an offensive operation in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian troops also walked up to an abandoned Russian T-80BVM tank and took it.
About 50 troops in one Ukrainian unit sent to fight in Kursk are convicts, according to The Economist. Those new recruits were released as part of an effort by Kyiv to boost its forces.
Despite apparently being struck by a munition, the windshield wiper in the car seen in the video below kept working.
A couple in Kursk had their wedding interrupted by the mournful sound of an air raid siren, another example of how the war is hitting home for Russians.
As Ukrainian troops get closer to Lgov and both sides are setting up new commands to oversee the fighting, it is looking more and more like this invasion will not end anytime soon.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is still facing a very tough fight to recapture its own territory.
“I would say things have become worse in our part of the front,” Ivan Sekach, spokesperson of Ukraine’s 110th Mechanized Brigade, which is currently deployed in the Pokrovsk district in the Donetsk region, told Politico. “We have been getting even less ammo than before and Russians are pushing.”
Over the past 24 hours, Russia occupied the villages of Zhelanne and Orlivka and made advances in New York, Krasnohorivka, Mykolaivka and Zhuravka in Donetsk, according to an update posted by DeepState, a war mapping project close to Ukraine’s defense ministry.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not confirm or deny the report, saying only that intense fighting was underway in those areas, and that Kyiv was concentrating its efforts on the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, Politico reported.
“The situation in the Pokrovsk region continues to get more complicated,” DeepState said on Telegram.
Update 7:52 PM Eastern –
As we mentioned earlier in this story, the Pentagon and White House said Russia has moved troops from Ukraine to defend Kursk. CNN reported that “Russia appears to have diverted several thousand troops from occupied territory inside Ukraine to counter” this surprisingly successful invasion.
Sources told CNN that “multiple brigade-sized elements made up of at least 1,000 troops each appeared to have shifted to the Kursk region.”
Alexander Lukashenko, the dictator of Russia’s client state of Belarus, told an interviewer that the West wants war between Ukraine and Russia and that his nation wants peace.
“Belarus and Russia are not interested in increasing the battlefield,” said Lukashenko, according to a partial transcript of an interview today posted on the Belarusian presidential website.
“We don’t want an escalation, and we don’t want a war against NATO,” Lukashenko continued.
Lukashenko added that Belarus is ready to respond to an attack if necessary.
“We don’t want it, but if they do…we won’t have a different choice. There will be no red lines. The state border. As soon as they stepped on [it], the answer will be instantaneous.”
Ukraine, as we noted earlier, still faces a very tough fight on its own land, especially in Donetsk Oblast. New video emerged showing the intensity of street-to-street, house-to-house fighting there.
Ukrainian forces are continuing to gain ground, only at a slower pace, according to the latest ISW assessment.
“Russian milbloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces continued advancing in some areas in Kursk Oblast amid a generally slower tempo of Ukrainian operations in the area,” the think tank reported.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com