A video that surfaced online appears to show bodies on burnt-out Russian military trucks in the country’s southwestern Kursk region, the latest sign that Ukraine’s cross-border assault is probing more deeply and inflicting significant damage on Moscow’s troops.
In the daytime video – shared by Russian military bloggers and independent outlets, and geolocated by CNN – about a dozen trucks are seen on the side of a road in the village of Oktyabrskoye, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) east of the town of Rylsk, appearing to contain dozens of dead bodies.
Some of the trucks are completely burnt out, while others are undamaged but still appear to contain the bodies of military personnel.
The video, which a Russian military blogger says shows the aftermath of a Ukrainian strike Thursday night, comes three days after Kyiv shifted tactics with a surprise incursion into Russian territory, prompting the Kremlin to declare a “federal scale” state of emergency on Friday in a region largely untroubled by more than two years of war.
Other online forums provided a window into the scale and geography of the incursion.
Telegram channels Belarusian Silovik and Archangel Spetsnaza reported fighting around Korenevo, a town about 30 miles northwest of Sudzha, an initial focal point of Ukrainian operations.
Dnevnik Desantnika, another Telegram channel, reported that fighting was ongoing near the village of Malaya Loknya, about 11 miles north of Sudzha, and between Cherkasskoe Porechnoe and Russkoe Porechnoe, around 18 miles north of Sudzha.
Rybar, one of the more prominent Russian military blogs, published a roundup of developments Friday that said the front lines have “somewhat stabilized” with the arrival of Russian reinforcements.
Rybar cited local residents of Vtoroye Knyazhino, a settlement on the outskirts of Sudzha, as saying Ukrainian infantry entered their village.
Moscow is firing back though. In one of the deadliest attacks in weeks, at least 14 people were killed and 43 injured in a Russian strike on a supermarket in Kostiantynivka, a town near the frontlines in the eastern Donetsk region, local officials said Friday.
Although Moscow has needed no pretext to target civilian areas in Ukraine, such strikes have typically come after setbacks or humiliation on the battlefield.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a rescue operation is underway to free people trapped under the rubble. “Russia will be held accountable for this terror, and we will do our best to ensure that the world continues to stand with Ukraine in supporting our defense and saving the lives of our people,” he wrote on social media.
Shifting tactics
Although pro-Ukrainian groups of Russian nationals have mounted fleeting cross-border assaults on Russia, and Ukraine has repeatedly targeted the border region of Belgorod with airstrikes, this week’s incursion marks the first time that regular Ukrainian and special operations units have entered Russian territory.
The intention, according to US and Ukrainian officials, is partly to divert Russian forces away from other parts of the eastern front – from which they have been able to bombard Ukraine’s Kharkiv region – and partly to disrupt and demoralize Russian forces. US officials say they do not believe Ukraine intends to hold Russian territory for the long term.
On Thursday, Kursk residents wrote on Telegram that “huge, furious battles are underway,” and recorded a video address to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking for his help.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said it had sent an additional group of 80 rescuers, including bomb disposal specialists, to Kursk on Friday to help evacuate the population to safe areas.
Ukraine typically does not take responsibility for attacks on Russian territory, but on Friday President Volodymyr Zelensky made an indirect reference to the incursion, saying he wanted to “express my special gratitude to our warriors.”
“This is extremely important and has been particularly effective over the past three days,” he said. “We must return freedom to all our people who remain in Russian captivity.”
A Ukrainian source with knowledge of Friday’s attack on Lipetsk – which lies even deeper into Russian territory than Kursk – said it struck an airfield in the region, destroying an ammunition depot with more than 700 guided bombs, in a joint operation involving its military, security service and special operation forces.
The source said dozens of fighter jets and helicopters were on the airfield at the time, and that a powerful explosion had led to a huge fire breaking out. Lipetsk’s emergency ministry also reported a fire at a military airfield in the region.
“The enemy is hitting civilians in Kursk and Belgorod,” Artamonov wrote on Telegram. “Today [it] massively attacked our region with drones. We will not be frightened, we will not give in, but we are not going to risk the lives of our people either.”
Russia’s defense ministry said Friday it intercepted and destroyed 75 “aircraft-type” drones, including 19 over Lipetsk, 26 over Belgorod, seven over Kursk, and several others over the regions of Bryansk, Voronezh, and Orel. It said it also destroyed five over Crimea and eight over the waters of the Black Sea.
Russia ‘a legitimate target’ for Ukraine
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, praised the Western response to the Ukrainian assault, saying “most quietly approve” of it. Previous Ukrainian attacks on Russia have made some Western officials jittery, with some arguing that Kyiv should fight only a defensive war to avoid provoking a potential Russian escalation.
Podolyak said Thursday that the West’s response had been “absolutely calm, balanced, objective, and based on an understanding of the spirit of international law and the principles of defensive warfare.” Unlike Zelensky, Podolyak directly referenced “events in the Kursk region.”
“Now, a significant part of the global community considers [Russia] a legitimate target for any operations and types of weapons,” he added.
The European Union foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stanno said Wednesday that Ukraine “has the legal right to defend itself, including striking an aggressor on its territory.” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller was slightly more tight-lipped, saying Ukraine has to decide its own tactics.
CNN’s Mariya Knight, Radina Gigova and Daria Tarasova-Markina contributed reporting.
