#incursion into kursk

[tomorrowusa]

While Utah and Iowa are busy banning books, Ukraine passed a law to support bookstores. 🇺🇦 📚 👍🏼

In Russia, authors get sent to the Gulag or flee the country. Ukraine has a thriving book scene.

Ukraine has passed a new law that directly supports bookstores.

So what a wonderful thing to see news out of Ukraine today that President Zelenskyy has signed a bill that provides subsidies for renting space to open bookstores and the introduction of book certificates (worth 908 hryvnia, or about $22) for 18-year-olds starting this year. The bill also allows for, after the end of martial law due to the ongoing war with Russia, one parent to receive a similar voucher after the birth of a child. Other countries around the world do support various book-voucher schemes (see: National Book Tokens in the UK) but most are private organizations as opposed to direct subsidies from the government. Ukrainian MP Yevhenia Kravchuk, one of the sponsors of the bill, noted that “the share of people who read every day increased from 8% to 17% between 2020 and 2023.” Considering that that period includes the Russian invasion, I’m hard-pressed not to see this as a small light of hope in the face of dark times. Reading matters, bookstores matter, and it’s marvelous to see a government—any government, really—wholeheartedly embrace those opinions.

Meanwhile just across the border...

Ukraine controls around 1,000 square km in Russia's Kursk Oblast, Syrskyi says

Ukraine should establish a bookstore on the Russian territory it has liberated and sell books outlawed or censored by Putin. 😝

Anne Applebaum at Mastodon pointed out that...

The first invasion of Russia since WW2 enters its second week. So far, the Ukrainians have taken more territory than the Russians have taken in all of 2024.

This may be the first time Russia has been invaded since WWII, but Russia and the USSR themselves have invaded various neighbors since then.

Ukraine 2022 - full scale

Ukraine 2014 - partial

Georgia 2008

Afghanistan 1979

Czechoslovakia 1968

Hungary 1956

Ukraine now has control of over 1,000 square km inside Russia. To Russians, it makes Putin look like a LOSER. Putin's 3-day "special operation" in Ukraine is already into day 901.

[memenewsdotcom]

Ukraine says it now controls 100 Russian settlements

[youthchronical]

Russian forces walked inside a gas pipeline to strike Ukrainian troops from the rear in Kursk - The Times of India

Representative image (Picture credit: AP) KYIV: Russian special forces walked kilometers (miles) inside a gas pipeline to strike Ukrainian units from the rear in the Kursk region, Ukraine’s military and Russian war bloggers reported, as Moscow moves to recapture parts of its border province that Kyiv seized in a shock offensive. Ukraine launched a daring cross-border incursion into Kursk in…

[uniqueeval]

Why Russia has struggled to respond to Ukraine’s incursion in Kursk region

After three weeks of fighting, Russia is still struggling to dislodge Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region, a surprisingly slow and low-key response to the first occupation of its territory since the Second World War. It all comes down to Russian manpower and Russian priorities. With the bulk of its military pressing offensives inside Ukraine, the Kremlin appears to lack enough reserves for now…

[in-sightjournal]

Ask A Genius 1093: Kursk Oblast Incursion

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is your assessment of the Kursk Oblast incursion by Ukrainian forces into Russian Federation territory? Rick Rosner: It appears that they have seized approximately 400 square miles of Russian land, which is relatively minor given the vast expanse of Russia, the largest country in the world. The territories captured hold no significant strategic value. However, the…

[dailyworldecho]

[lejournaldupeintre]

Russia battling major Ukrainian cross-border incursion 

State of emergency declared in southestern region amid fighting that began on Tuesday. Russia said it has been battling a significant cross-border incursion as Ukrainian troops advance in the Kursk region. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Thursday its troops were “continuing to destroy” armed Ukrainian units and were using air strikes, rocket and artillery fire to try to push them back. It…

[nothingeverhappenstome]

Afaik the main factor protecting the Russian gains in Ukraine is the fuckhuge minefields with zeroed artillery support. They obviously didn't have that in Kursk. Or, on the route to Moscow for that matter.

(I'm thinking about Prigozhin in that last sentence, unless...)

What's happening in kursk?

year 3 of the 3 day war: ukraine has invaded russia

[mariacallous]

​​In early October, Russian soldiers executed nine Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) who had surrendered to them during Kyiv’s ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, now well into its third month. This incident is just one of many examples from a rising wave of non-combat killings being carried out by the Russian Armed Forces. Victims of these rampages include Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered, civilians trying to go about their lives in places like Kherson, and even other Russian soldiers. Reports of widespread killings by Russian soldiers first surfaced in the spring of 2022, with civilians in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions among the victims. This latest wave of violence, however, may prove to be even more widespread. And participants in the so-called “special military operation” — especially former prisoners from the disbanded Wagner Group and Storm Z units — are continuing to commit heinous crimes on the “home front” after returning to Russia. The Insider reviewed documented cases and spoke with experts to get a better understanding of why Russian soldiers are increasingly targeting civilians on both sides of the war.

[tomorrowusa]

These are not good times for Putin fans. They want us to believe in the overpowering might of old Vlad. Things just haven't been working out that way. J.D. Vance is probably crying on his couch.

Putin is again revealing the incompetence of his army as well as the barrenness of his strategy. A big army is not necessarily a good army. Afghanistan had a relatively large army as the Taliban took over.

Kursk offensive embarrasses Putin to Washington’s delight

Putin can read English. If he manages to get around his own online censors, this is a sampling of what he may see...

I think today is Day 904 of Putin's 3-Day "Special Operation" in Ukraine. So much for Russia's overpowering invincibility. 🤡 😆

[argumate]

The temporal correlation between the suspension of US intelligence sharing with Ukraine and the start of Russia's collapse of the Ukrainian Kursk salient is noteworthy. Russia has been attempting to push Ukrainian forces from the salient in Kursk Oblast through slow, grinding advances since the incursion began in August 2024. Russia later deployed roughly 12,000 North Korean military personnel in October 2024 to assist in repelling the incursion, but Russian forces continued to make only gradual gains. The Trump administration suspended US intelligence sharing with Ukraine on March 5, although there continue to be conflicting reports about the details about the US suspension. Russian forces intensified offensive operations to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk Oblast on March 6 and 7. A source reportedly affiliated with Ukrainian military intelligence started reporting more rapid Russian advances in Kursk Oblast on March 5. A source in the Ukrainian government stated in a March 8 Time article that the US intelligence sharing suspension has impacted Ukrainian operations in Kursk Oblast the most. The Russian military has not previously prioritized the effort to push Ukrainian forces out of Kursk Oblast over making further advances in eastern Ukraine despite concentrating a sufficient force grouping to do so in late 2024. A direct link between the suspension of US intelligence sharing and the start of the collapse of Ukraine's salient in Kursk Oblast is unclear, although Kremlin officials have recently announced their intention to take advantage of the suspension of US military aid and intelligence sharing to "inflict maximum damage" to Ukrainian forces "on the ground" during the limited time frame before the possible future resumption of US intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine.

starts to feel like the US wants Russia to take back Kursk so that Ukraine has no chips to play in the peace talks.

[benjaminallhope-fulltimemind]

after two long years Ukraine is making major gains even after a massive slog in the south, it's the first major land invasion of Russia since the second world war! The funny thing is that Ukraine is abiding by international standards and not committing war crimes, not only that but there has been no major protests nir armed resistance against Ukraine troops in the kurk region and my best guest is that any people who would have fought are evacuating but then why wouldn't they do anything something like Ukraine citizens did during the invasion of their territory? With all that said however this is a major advantage for Ukraine for PR and negotiations, any talk going forward are no longer about begging but real negotiations since Russia risks losing territory. Wjth the November US election this kursk offensive this might also impact military aid in a positive way, despite pro-russia pundits crying about Ukraine's use of western weapons.

[tatarstani]

Nine civilians killed by Ukrainian forces found in Kursk Region village

Six of the victims found in a recently liberated village had gunshot wounds, according to investigators

Nine civilians were killed by Ukrainian forces during their retreat from a village in Russia's Kursk Region, the Russian Investigative Committee has claimed. Six of the civilian victims had gunshot wounds, including an elderly woman who was shot in the head, the committee’s spokesperson has said.

The Russian authorities have released a video depicting investigators examining the scene of the crime, as well as blurred pictures of several bodies.

The Ukrainian military launched an incursion into internationally recognized Russian territory last August, most of which has since been liberated by Moscow's troops.

In a statement on Thursday, committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said that investigators probing Ukrainian terrorist attacks in Kursk Region “found the bodies of nine civilians with injuries pointing to a violent death as they inspected private residential areas in the settlement of Makhnovka.”

According to the official, “no later than in March 2025, Ukrainian servicemen deliberately shelled” residential buildings in the area. The type of damage sustained by the buildings indicates that they had come under artillery fire, Petrenko added. “Six bodies have gunshot wounds,” she said, with one victim identified as an “elderly woman shot in the head.”

The investigation is ongoing, the official said, adding that those responsible for the civilians’ deaths will be held to account.

Last month, the investigative committee reported looting, arson, and execution-style shootings of civilians by the Ukrainian military in the town of Sudzha in Kursk Region. According to Russian officials, eyewitness accounts indicated that specific orders had been issued to Ukrainian troops to kill civilians.

The Russian authorities cited cases of “targeted shelling of residential buildings in Sudzha,” with Kiev’s forces looting and setting fire to civilian homes.

source

[ozkaterji]

We have a very special episode of This Is Not A Drill out today, so join me in taking a deep dive into Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region of Russia, featuring Ukrainian security analyst Maria Avdeeva

Available at using this link and also at all good podcast hosts!