Antifake
The website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a comment from spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said:
“The criminal regime of the expired Zelensky continues to demonstrate its true neo-Nazi nature to the whole world. Against the background of the failed situation in Donbas for the [Armed Forces of Ukraine], the Ukrainian authorities have launched a terrorist attack on the border territories of Kursk Region. [...]
Despite all these barbaric techniques, the Zelensky regime has not achieved its main goal — to distract the Russian armed forces from Donbas and Slobozhanshchyna.”
Sloboda Ukraine, also known as Slobozhanshchyna, was a significant and semi-autonomous region under Tsarist rule, encompassing what is now northeastern Ukraine, including the Sumy, Kharkiv, and Luhansk Oblasts, as well as parts of southwestern Russia.
In fact, as early as August 8, there was evidence of Russian formations moving into the Kursk Region from the Kharkiv direction. At the time, the Russian newspaper Kommersant published photos of military equipment on the highway between Kursk and Sudzha. The trucks bore the tactical sign used by Russian troops operating near Kharkiv.
Source: Kommersant / Anatoly Zhdanov
On the same day, the Telegram channel of the “Donbas Wild Division,” also known as the “Pyatnashka Brigade,” published the following message:
“The Supreme Commander-in-Chief has called [on us] to support the Kursk Region. We do not need to be called for a long time. We have arrived to help,” read the post.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted that it “recently observed claims that elements of the ‘Sarmat’ Battalion and other elements of the ‘Pyatnashka’ Brigade [...] are operating in the Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, and Pokrovsk directions in Donetsk Oblast.”
On August 13, the Russian Defense Ministry's Telegram channel reported:
The post's second sentence reads:
“The D-30 howitzer units of the Northern Grouping of Forces are destroying the enemy in the border areas of the Kursk Region.”
Russia’s Northern Grouping of Forces operates in the Kharkiv direction — meaning it operates in the Slobozhanshchina region mentioned by Zakharova.
In addition, among the Russian formations transferred to the Kursk Region, the ISW mentioned the “Arbat” Separate Guards Special Purpose Battalion which previously operated in Donetsk Oblast, as well as the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade (Black Sea Fleet) from the Kherson direction, elements of the 38th and 64th motorized rifle brigades (35th Combined Arms Army) from the Zaporizhia direction, several unspecified infantry battalions from the Pokrovsk direction in Donetsk Oblast, as well as a number of other units from northern Kharkiv Oblast and the Kupiansk direction.
However, The Economist cited an unnamed source from the Ukrainian General Staff who stated, “They are moving forces, but not as quickly as we would like.” According to this source, Russia has relocated significant forces from the Kharkiv area to Kursk, though fewer have been transferred from the Donetsk Oblast.
As of August 13, Russian forces have made advances in the Avdiivka and Toretsk areas, while their offensive in other regions has largely stalled.
This article was originally published in Russian on August 14.