On Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Kursk

In the early hours of August 6, the regional government of Kursk, a federal subject of Russia that borders Ukraine to the west, sent an alarm on its Telegram channel asking residents to run for shelter from incoming missile attacks.

Hours later, the channel posted images of dilapidated residential buildings, with a message from Alexey Smirnov, the Acting Governor of the region, “Tonight, the city of Sudzha was shelled from the Ukrainian side.

Several residential buildings were severely damaged.” Ukraine had launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s southwestern province of Kursk, in the first ground invasion of the country or the erstwhile Soviet Union since World War II.