The Ukrainian military claims to have used high-precision American gliding bombs to strike Russia’s Kursk region, retaking part of the territory of the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, which had been under Russian offensive since the spring.
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Mikola Oleshchuk released a video late Thursday purporting to show the command post of a Russian unit being hit in Kursk, where Ukrainian forces launched a surprise cross-border incursion on August 6. He said the attack with U.S.-supplied GBU-39 bombs resulted in Russian casualties and the destruction of equipment.
The video shows multiple explosions and plumes of smoke rising from the scene.
Many of Ukraine’s supporters oppose the country using donated weapons for anything other than defensive purposes. kyiv, however, has argued that its incursion into Kursk is in keeping with that principle and aimed at minimizing attacks on Ukrainian soil from the Russian region.
U.S. officials have said Washington supports Ukraine’s use of short-range weapons in its cross-border attacks, including glide bombs. So far, the United States has only limited the use of longer-range ATACMS missiles for strikes deep into Russia.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday that U.S. officials are in near-daily contact with their Ukrainian counterparts and have made no recent changes to guidelines on how U.S. weapons can be used in the Kursk offensive.
“They are authorized to use U.S.-supplied equipment to defend against Russian aggression. And, as you know, the president has authorized them to use U.S. munitions across that border to deal with imminent threats,” Kirby told reporters in Washington.
Mr. Kirby added that it was not clear whether the Ukrainian operation in Kursk would be successful in the long term. On Friday, Russian officials reported some success in pushing back Ukrainian forces from some areas of the Kursk region.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said its forces had advanced nearly two square kilometers in the Kharkiv region. No details have been released on the timing, scale, and area of the offensive, and it is difficult to predict its impact on the battlefield.
Drone attacks and fires
Ukrainian forces gained new momentum this month after delayed U.S. arms deliveries finally came through, and kyiv launched a shock offensive in Russia’s western Kursk region earlier this month.
Ukraine has recently escalated a drone war against military and fuel targets that has sparked wildfires deep inside Russia this week. On Friday, new details emerged about the damage and injuries caused by some of those drone attacks.
A Ukrainian drone strike targeting a remote Russian air base in the Volgograd region caused significant damage to an airfield believed to have housed glide bombs used by Moscow during the war, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed Friday.
Meanwhile, an attack on a cargo ferry in the port of Kavkaz in Russia’s Krasnodar region on Thursday left 13 people injured, Russia’s official news agency Tass reported on Friday. Citing health officials, Tass said four of the injured were hospitalized and another person was still missing.
Ukraine’s gains have reshaped the battlefield and boosted Ukrainian morale, 10 years after Russia first invaded their country, and two and a half years after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion that resulted in mass death and destruction, as well as creating Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
Ukraine and its Western allies hope the renewed momentum could strengthen kyiv’s position on the diplomatic front.
The Russian incursion exposed Russian vulnerabilities but also strained Ukrainian forces, which were already fighting on a front line stretching hundreds of kilometers. It may have compromised Ukraine’s ability to contain Russian forces that have slowly but steadily gained ground in the Donetsk region, diverting Ukrainian forces that could otherwise bolster the region’s defenses.
It is unclear how long Ukraine will be able to hold on to the territory it has conquered from Russia.