Kremlin forced to regroup as Ukrainian forces breach Kursk border

The Ukrainian offensive on Kursk caused the Kremlin to withdraw some of its troops from Ukraine. These troops are needed to defend Russia, reports the American daily "Wall Street Journal."

Russia is withdrawing some of its troops from Ukraine in response to the offensive launched by Ukrainian forces last week, reported the daily "Wall Street Journal" on Tuesday, citing anonymous U.S. officials.

The paper emphasises that this is the first sign that the Ukrainian invasion is forcing Moscow to reorganise its own forces. At the same time, it is not specified how many Russian units are involved, as "the U.S. is still trying to determine this." However, Ukrainian army spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy said it was a "relatively small" number of units.

Similar reports came a day earlier from Politico. Citing a Ukrainian army spokesman, the portal reported that Russia withdrew some troops from southern Ukraine back to its territory to try to repel the growing invasion of Kyiv forces.

About 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers breached the Russian border into the Kursk region last week with tanks and armoured vehicles under the cover of drones and artillery, reported Reuters on Thursday, citing Russian officials. It was the first incursion of foreign troops into Russian territory since 1941. A state of emergency was declared on Wednesday, 7 August, in the Kursk region.

The assault continues. Ukrainian soldiers managed to push the Russians out of Sudzha, Guyeva, Gornoly, Gogolivka, Rubanshchyna, Nizhny Klin, and Mykolaiv-Daryva, among other places.

Volodymyr Zelensky called the operation a "security issue," explaining that it was about liberating the border area.