Russia claims that Ukrainian armed forces have entered the Kursk region but have been stopped. (Source: AP)

Fierce fighting took place in these areas, with the Ukrainian army, supported by armored vehicles, advancing into a number of border settlements. There was heavy shelling of the Sudzha District and villages, a border town, resulting in the death of at least four civilians and the wounding of dozens.

This is not just about the infiltration of Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage groups, judging by the number of forces and means involved on the Ukrainian side, but we are talking about a military operation.

According to reports, the Ukrainian Armed Forces captured 11 settlements in the Kursk region on August 7 and established a foothold there. As former General Staff officer Mikhail Zvinchuk reported on his “Rybar” channel, as well as other reliable military reporters, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have taken control of the Sudzha GIS Gas Metering Station and are entrenched around the Sudzha District. The Sudzha GIS is a gas metering station on the border with Ukraine, where Gazprom delivers Russian gas to Europe along the Druzhba gas pipeline on Ukrainian territory.

Faced with this situation, the Russian Defense Ministry has directed federal border protection units, together with local border guards, reinforcement units and reserve forces, to approach and conduct air strikes, missile forces and artillery fire to stop the enemy's advance.

According to Novosty, citing sources from the Russian Ministry of Defense, in total, since the start of fighting in the Kursk direction until August 8, “the Ukrainian side has lost 660 servicemen and 82 armored vehicles, including 8 tanks, 12 armored personnel carriers, 6 infantry fighting vehicles, 55 armored fighting vehicles and one technical barrier vehicle.

Russian troops struck at identified concentrations of troops and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and prevented attempts by individual units to advance deep into the territory of the Kursk region.

In addition, airstrikes are also being carried out to reinforce Ukrainian reserves in the Sumy region inside Ukrainian territory.

“The operation to destroy units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continues,” the Defense Ministry stressed.

What is the opponent's goal in the Kursk region?

In theory, the attack on the Kursk region should not have come as a surprise to the Russian General Staff, but given the rapid capture of several populated areas by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Russian military preparations were indeed surprising. This is not the first time this has happened, as there have been unpleasant incidents in the border region in the past. However, while previously it was mainly small Ukrainian sabotage groups operating in the area, now Russia is facing a full-scale invasion of Russian territory.

So what is the opponent's goal? Russian military analysts say:

Firstly, to withdraw Russian reserves from other directions, including from Donetsk, where the Russian Armed Forces are conducting a successful offensive in the New York settlement, as well as from Kharkov, where attempts are being made to create a safe buffer zone.

Second, targeting the US elections in November and possible negotiations, it is necessary to seize Russian territory in order to then use this in negotiations and achieve better conditions for ending the war for itself.

However, if the opponent begins to actively operate in this Glukhov - Rylsk direction, then it cannot be excluded that the ultimate goal of the entire operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will become clear - this is the city of Kurchatov, the nuclear power plant. The logic of the matter is as follows: capture Kurchatov and negotiate with the Russian Federation on the Zaporizhzhya NPP or something else. Theoretically, the option of trying to approach the Kursk NPP in order to capture it seems like a goal, but this would require the use of a very large force by the Ukrainian army.

Whether the Ukrainian General Staff chose to attack the Kursk region because of the Kursk nuclear power plant in the city of Kurchatov, with its connection to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant controlled by the Russian military for several years, or the city of Sudzha or the Sudzha Gas Metering Station (GIS) was known only to the Ukrainian high command.

According to military correspondent Yury Kotenok, the tactical goal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at this point may be to seize the city of Sudzha, which is more symbolic than economic. “The enemy is very territorially inclined, trying his best to gain a foothold on Russian territory in order to neutralize the Russian military’s gains on the new territories that Russia is attacking. It is clear that the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are now focused on trying to gain control over the Sudzha regional center, and this would be a great success for them.”

In addition, if the Ukrainian army attacked this region just to capture Sudzha GIS, cutting off the flow of Russian gas to Europe, Ukraine could have done it a long time ago and at any time by declaring the closure of the Druzhba Route valve. Ukraine has always been committed to transporting Gazprom gas to Central European countries such as Hungary, Slovakia or Austria through this last pipeline route until the end of the contract at the end of this year. In case the transit through Ukraine is stopped due to this country's fault, European countries will not forgive Kiev. Therefore, Ukraine still has to make every effort to ensure that the pipeline is not damaged and the gas flows through it.

However, the impact of Ukraine's military operations on Russian territory has affected gas prices on the market. Without waiting long, within three hours of trading, the price of gas on the TTF exchange in the Netherlands increased to 433.07 USD per thousand cubic meters, an immediate price increase of 6.5%.

After days of silence, Ukraine has finally confirmed that its armed forces have launched a deep attack on Russian territory and given the reason for the military action. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told state television that the surprise attack was aimed at strengthening Kiev’s position in future negotiations with Russia. According to him, Ukraine’s advances on Russian territory will “frighten” the Russian people and reduce their trust in the country’s leadership.

Buffer zones: expectations and reality

According to observers, the attempt to create a buffer zone in the Russian regions bordering Ukraine to prevent shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Belgorod region has not really yielded results. This became clear late last month, when the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced that new security measures would be introduced in the region starting July 23. Specifically, entry into 14 border settlements will be banned.

When Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov was asked whether this decision of the Belgorod authorities could be called a failure of the operation to create a buffer zone in the Kharkov region, he replied that it was not so and that the operation would continue until such a zone was created.

Residential houses in the Kursk region were attacked. (Source: Topwar.ru)

Military analysts note that the news about the military situation in the Kharkov region and around the city of Volchansk has practically disappeared from the information map, and thus the Russian offensive there has practically stopped. Now, based on what is happening in the Kursk region, where shelling over the past few weeks has been no less intense than in the Belgorod region, suspicions about the creation of a buffer zone by Russia are justified.

Bordering Ukraine, this area has three regions: Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk. If in Bryansk the intensity of shelling from Ukraine is quite low, then Belgorod is shelled and paid more attention, but now Kursk is not out of sight, the situation is starting to escalate like Belgorod.

The question being asked by Russian military commentators is whether the Russian Armed Forces have the necessary forces and resources to create such a large buffer zone covering both regions. The answer remains unclear after the Ukrainian army was able to penetrate deep into the Kursk region on August 6.

Safe Vietnamese Community

Regarding the Vietnamese community in the Kursk region, safety is still guaranteed. The number of Vietnamese people currently in the Kursk region is about a few dozen, of which nearly a dozen have been there for a long time, doing fabric business in the city of Kursk, over 100 km from the war zone.

In addition, a newly established garment factory with more than two dozen Vietnamese workers is also working in the Kursk region, which is nearly 200 km away from the border, so it is not affected. The factory manager assured that when there are signs of insecurity, these workers will be moved to other regions where the Vietnamese community lives and works, such as Orion or a little further away, the city of Voronhez. Moreover, these establishments regularly update war information and have close ties with Russian authorities as well as the Vietnamese representative agency in the Russian Federation.