Kiev attempts new incursion into Russia’s Kursk (VIDEOS)

Ukrainian forces have launched multiple cross-border attacks, sustaining heavy casualties in the process

The Ukrainian military launched a new attempt to invade Russia’s Kursk Region on Monday, launching multiple cross-border attacks. While the fighting in the border area continued into Wednesday, Kiev’s forces have failed to achieve any tangible gains, sustaining considerable materiel and personnel losses during the attack.

The attacks targeted several locations, including the villages of Tetkino and Novy Put, shortly to the east of the area invaded by the Ukrainian forces last August and fully liberated by the Russian military earlier this year. 

“In the Tetkino area and closer to Novy Put, the enemy has been conducting reconnaissance in force for the second day in a row and is trying to clear our mine and engineering barriers in order to try to send troops into the breach,” Igor Kimakovsky, a senior official in the administration of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic, told reporters. 

The village of Tetkino was the target of an unsuccessful Ukrainian incursion attempt in March 2024. The hamlet of Novy Put saw the most intensive combat in November last year, when Kiev’s troops attempted to flank the Russian forces advancing in Kursk Region.

Multiple videos circulating online, said to be taken to the south of Tetkino, show that the Ukrainian troops deployed several breacher vehicles to break through the reinforced border, clearing mines, ‘dragon teeth’ concrete pyramids and other obstacles.

READ MORE: Record civilian casualties from Ukrainian strikes last week – Moscow

The vehicles, including a Soviet made IMR-2 and German-supplied Wisent 1 engineering vehicles, as well as Soviet-designed UR-77 Meteorit mine clearing vehicle, were hit by multiple FPV drones and abandoned by their crews. 

Ukrainian forces attempted to evacuate the crews of the vehicles on quad bikes. some of the evacuation teams, however, fell victim to FPV drones as well. 

Multiple Ukrainian armored vehicles that attempted to advance on Russian positions near Tetkino through the openings made by the breachers ended up destroyed as well. One of the videos from the area show a heavily uparmored US-supplied M1117 armored car getting hit by a drone carrying two PRG-7 warheads. 

Despite the initial setbacks, Ukrainian forces managed to reach the westernmost tip of Tetkino, located mere 100m away from the border, on Tuesday. An unspecified number of Ukrainian servicemen reportedly infiltrated several residential homes on the outskirts of the village. The forces were subjected to artillery and aerial strikes, footage available online indicates, and reportedly were pushed back across the border by the end of the day. 

A similar situation unfolded near Novy Put, where Kiev’s troops also sent in breacher vehicles only to lose them in the open field. Drone footage purportedly taken near the hamlet shows an IMR-2 hitting a landmine when the vehicle attempted to cross an anti-tank ditch and rampart at the border. Immediately after the blast, an uparmored vehicle carrying Ukrainian infantry that followed the breacher was hit by at least one FPV drone, the video suggests. 

The ongoing incursion attempt is marked with an active use of quad bikes by the Ukrainian forces, who use them for rapid infantry deployment instead of relying purely on armored vehicles that follow breachers. A convoy of 10 quad bikes was reportedly destroyed en route to Novy Put. 

Thermal footage circulating online purports to show the bikes speeding along a road towards the hamlet. The group stopped at some point, and the tightly packed vehicles ended up hit by multiple artillery shells, footage shows.