Russian TV Stunned by Ukraine’s Kursk Attack: ‘How Could This Happen?’

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-tv-ukraine-kursk-attack-incursion-1936918

A Russian state TV host and his guests have been left stunned by Ukraine's surprise incursion into Kursk and the scale of advances into the western region.

Propagandist Sergey Mardan described the three-day-old armored assault into Russia's Kursk, which borders Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, as "chaos" during a show he hosted on Solovyov Live. An excerpt of the broadcast was shared on X, formerly Twitter, late on Thursday by Julia Davis, the founder of the Russia Media Monitor watchdog group.

Kyiv's forces launched its cross-border armored assault on Tuesday, and swiftly seized a large number of settlements. They captured scores of Russian personnel, and overwhelmed two major lines of fortifications in the Kursk region that took Russia over two-and-a-half years and more than $170 million to build.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment by email.

Ukraine has so far gained control of at least 166 square miles of Russian territory—equivalent to the size of New Orleans—investigative Russian outlet Agentstvo reported on Thursday. Newsweek could not independently verify this.

"According to the scarce, unverified comments that I would doubt 10 times over, all of this resembles chaos—a word that members of the military don't like," said Mardan, criticizing the lack of information on the situation from the Kremlin.

"Ukrainians are in the Kursk region; part of Sudzha is under Ukrainian control. It's a regional center. Yes, it's true. There is no official confirmation, but it's true. There are tanks, there are armored personnel carriers, there is a colossal number of drones...," said Mardan.

Mardan commented on reports that emerged on Thursday that Kyiv's forces were reported to be nearly in full control of the city Sudzha, where a gas-measuring facility that facilitates the flow of Russian gas to Europe is located.

"By the end of the day yesterday, parts of Sudzha were under the control of Ukrainians. They have entered it. According to what I have read and have heard, Russian Army reserves are being pulled into the Kursk region," the state TV host said. "There is still no military information, basically none. I don't know whether it's good or bad. I think this isn't so good."

Georgy Mamsurov, a correspondent for Solovyov Live, was invited to speak on-air, and said that his sources say Ukraine "managed to grab a hold of the northern parts" of Sudzha, but was stopped near the town of Korenevo.

"In my opinion, it's difficult to even call it a raid; this is a full-fledged combined arms operation that Ukraine's Armed Forces have initiated on the territory of our country," the journalist added.

Mikhail Khodaryonok, a military expert, told Mardan that Ukraine has made "significant advancement" into the Kursk region. He added that he believes Russian citizens will soon be demanding answers from the Kremlin.

"Suddenly, the Ukrainian side has demonstrated its ability to attack and to conduct successful action," said Khodaryonok.

"We don't have the precise data as to which areas are controlled by which side. One way or another, citizens will be asking questions. There are questions to our intelligence agencies—how could this happen? How? Where is the engineering equipment that should be on the border of our nation? Where are the troops that were supposed to provide cover and repel any attacks? Where are the necessary reserves?" he said.

Putin on Wednesday called Ukraine's cross-border armored assaults a "large-scale provocation."

"We have to start with the events in the Kursk region," the Russian leader said at an emergency meeting of his Security Council. "As you know, the Kyiv regime has carried out another large-scale provocation, firing indiscriminately with various types of weapons, including missiles, at civilian buildings, residential buildings, and ambulances."

Russia's Defense Ministry has, meanwhile, downplayed the scale of Ukrainian advances in the region, declaring "victory" amid the incursion at least six times, according to Agentstvo.