New footage shows dramatic first hours of Ukraine's Kursk incursion

Ukraine has finally revealed footage capturing the first hours of their dramatic thrust into Russia's Kursk region last week. The videos - hidden until now - show how Kyiv 's forces took their ill-prepared Russian counterparts totally by surprise with their stunning border breakthrough. One sequence shows Russian FSB security service border guards along with army conscripts emerging with white flags from the blitzed ruins of the Sudzha border checkpoint, which was quickly seized by Ukraine's 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade.

Other clips show punishing missile strikes in Russian territory as Ukrainian armoured vehicles surge through open fields and built-up areas with ease as dozens of Russian troops are seen surrendering. Highlighted in the videos are 'de-mining, the border breakthrough, destruction of enemy defensive lines, air force and artillery operations, and taking prisoners', the official channel of the Air Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) said. The AFU footage shows 'the first hours of the offensive operation by the defence forces in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation on 6 August 2024'.

Ukraine's offensive into Kursk was described as 'a day that will go down in the history of the Russo-Ukrainian war. 'Careful preparation, planning, surprise, high morale, and information silence were crucial in the initial phase of the operation.' Future success in the incursion will depend on 'the resilience of the Ukrainian soldier in all branches of the armed forces involved in the operation'.

It comes as Aleksei Zhivov, a Russian military volunteer and political analyst, demanded that Putin quizzes his top brass over why they ignored clear advance intelligence about the Ukrainian incursion. 'We were not taken by surprise [over the invasion in the Kursk region],' he told Vashi Novosti. 'Everything was reported [by military intelligence] in a timely manner, multiple times.' Zhivov insisted: 'There is information in both open and closed sources that all [Ukrainian troop] gatherings and military and analytical reports were communicated two weeks in advance, a month in advance, five days in advance, and two days in advance.

'There were the last red warning lights flashing from various military units indicating that a military operation might begin soon. 'This question [how Russia missed the preparation for the Ukrainian attack in the Kursk region] is not for me. It is for... the General Staff.' Blame is being attached to Chief of the General Staff of Russia's Armed ForcesValery Gerasimov amid speculation in Moscow that Putin is readying to replace him.

Gerasimov allegedly received intelligence of an Ukrainian invasion of Russia before it happened and failed to act on it, before announcing 48 hours after Ukrainian troops attacked that the invasion had been stopped in its tracks - but in reality Ukraine kept seizing territory. Furious Russians living near the border town of Sudzha made a video appeal to Putin last week angrily attacking Gerasimov for 'lying' in claiming that the Ukrainian advance had been halted. 'Foreign troops with NATO equipment entered our land,' they complained, upset that they are facing the same foreign occupation that Putin has inflicted on large regions of Ukraine.

' Recently, the Chief of General Staff [General Valery Gerasimov] told you that the situation is under control. This is a lie. This lie allows civilians to die,' a woman in the group said. The military chief's alleged failure to act on intelligence of the invasion and apparent lie about it being stopped could possibly see Gerasimov being demoted in the near future. Putin has already handed the responsibility of tackling the invasion over to FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov, which could be a sign of Gerasimov being in Putin's bad graces.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officers fighting in the Kursk offensive have implored Britain to green-light the use of Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets deep into Russia . Deploying the British long-range rockets would allow Kyiv's forces to sever vital supply lines by striking key infrastructure up to 150 miles across the Russian border, Dmytro Lantushenko, the captain of a mortar brigade involved in the Kusk incursion declared yesterday. 'Those who are able to control their supply flows can maximise the use of their forces... If we had Storm Shadows we would be able to strike logistics hubs and railways and disrupt those lines,' he told the Times.

British-made weaponry has reportedly been used to great effect by Kyiv's troops in their foray into Russia already. Several Challenger-2 tanks are believed to have forged across the border as part of the invasion force - though Russian military bloggers gloated yesterday that drones had successfully destroyed one of the British-made vehicles used in the offensive. Lantushenko's pleas for Storm Shadow missiles came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed drones are simply not enough to destroy key Russian military infrastructure and hammer home his advantage in Kursk.

'Our Ukrainian drones work exactly as they should, but unfortunately, there are things that cannot be done with drones alone,' the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address Wednesday. 'We need other weapons - missiles... long-range decisions for Ukraine. This must be done. The bolder our partners' decisions, the less Putin will be able to do about it.' Newest NATO member Sweden declared yesterday morning that Ukraine has the right to defend itself both inside and outside its territory, with Kyiv 's Western allies seemingly supportive of the incursion in Kursk. But approving the use of long-range missiles on Russian soil would signify a major shift from British, US and European governments who have thus far provided weaponry to Kyiv on the proviso they are not used for offensive strikes in Russia.

Vladimir Putin and top-ranking Russian officials have trumpeted incessantly that they would consider any Western country to have directly entered the conflict should its weapons be used to attack Russian land, sparking fears that such a move could trigger the descent into World War III. However, Taras Kuzio, a professor of political science at the National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, posited that the assault on Kursk has shown that the fear of crossing Russian 'red lines' that could lead to nuclear escalation 'is a myth'.

Sir Keir Starmer told reporters en route to Washington for NATO 's 75th-anniversary summit in July that decisions on the use of UK-supplied long-range Storm Shadow missiles were for the Ukrainian armed forces to make. Many believed this indicated that Kyiv had been granted permission to use the missiles to strike targets on Russian soil. But Downing Street was later forced to clarify that, although Ukraine was permitted to use UK-supplied weapons in Russia, the deployment of the long-range missiles had not been granted.

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