Kursk: Emergency Also in Belgorod
The Russian army finally succeeded in stopping the Ukrainian offensive. Battles are going on between numerous mobile groups over a vast area. Moscow's law enforcement agencies have been put on high alert
Russian reinforcements sent to the Kursk region from across the country, rather than from the Donbass front, managed to halt the Ukrainian military’s offensive. While some of the Ukrainian brigades that invaded Russian territory on August 6 are defending some corridors that bring in ammunition and reinforcements, other Kiev warriors have split into small mobile groups that are in constant motion and attacking Russian army positions.
The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) writes in its daily bulletins on the progress of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict that at the moment “Russian military units from Ukraine have not been moved into Kursk Region,” and the Russians “continue to advance on that front.” Meanwhile, according to information released by Lithuanian authorities, “Moscow has moved some of the troops stationed in the Kaliningrad enclave” on the Baltic to Ukraine.
The governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has declared a state of emergency in this Russian region on the border with Ukraine. “The situation remains extremely difficult and tense due to the shelling of civilian objects by the AFU. Houses have been destroyed, civilians killed and wounded,” Gladkov wrote in Telegram on Wednesday, August 14. While Russian armed forces use fighter-bombers, helicopters, and tactical missiles, Kiev’s army continues to attack Russian territory with groups of unmanned aircraft. Overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, Russian air defense assets shot down about 120 drones not only in Kursk and Belgorod, but also in the Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod regions, hundreds of kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border.
In Moscow, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the Russian capital’s airspace is protected by the best air defense systems. But Muscovites have also been warned of a sharp increase in security measures to prevent possible infiltration of Ukrainian sabotage groups into the city.
President Vladimir Putin appointed one of his closest associates, Alexei Dyumin, to implement the promised “tough Russian response” to the Ukrainian offensive, assigning him the task of “coordinating the actions of the army, forces of order, and civil authorities to expel Ukrainian troops.” Dyumin, 51, general’s son, hails from Kursk, served in the president’s security service and spent several years as governor of the Tula region, one of Russia’s most important defense industry centers. In May 2024, he was appointed Kremlin adviser on the military industry, as well as secretary of the State Council.
