Russian helicopter, tanks reportedly destroyed in fighting across border in Kursk Oblast

The crowd-sourced monitoring website DeepState shared pictures on Aug. 6 appearing to show a downed Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter and two destroyed tanks amid reports of a cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast.

Earlier, Ukrainian authorities in Sumy Oblast said that troops in the area had downed a Russian helicopter, two drones, and a ballistic missile. The announcement coincided with reports of intensified Russian attacks in the oblast.

The photos, which could not be independently verified, came after Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that Ukrainian soldiers launched attacks across the border.

Russian Telegram channels said earlier in the day that a sabotage and reconnaissance group with heavy equipment had entered the oblast, which is located across the border from Ukraine's Sumy Oblast.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed around 5 p.m. local time that up to 300 soldiers of Ukraine's 22nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, equipped with tanks and armored vehicles, had allegedly attacked Russian units near the border settlements of Nikolaevo-Darino and Oleshnya in Kursk Oblast.

Ukraine's 22nd Separate Mechanized Brigade has not commented on these claims, which cannot be independently verified.

Earlier in the day, Aleksey Smirnov, the governor of Russia's Kursk Oblast, claimed that Russian border guards "prevented a border breakthrough" in the Sudzhansky and Korenevsky districts.

There were conflicting reports from Russian authorities about an evacuation order in the area, which the local administration of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry dismissed as "fake information."

In March, three anti-Kremlin Russian armed groups units launched incursions into Belgorod and Kursk oblasts from Ukraine, allegedly resulting in clashes with Russian forces in several settlements. The incursions were immediately followed by relentless Russian attacks on the regional capital of Sumy and the region.

Ukraine gave a glimpse of its first F-16s – what can it tell us?

After more than a year of waiting, F-16s finally fly in the Ukrainian skies. President Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled two of the first U.S.-made fighter jets sporting blue-and-yellow roundels and a Ukrainian coat of arms in a ceremony on Aug. 4, confirming earlier media reports. While providing littl…

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek