Ukraine’s military has announced that they have taken control of a crucial natural gas transit station that supplies Europe. This marks the largest counteroffensive launched by Kyiv in the Russia-Ukraine war, forcing Moscow to declare a state of emergency in two regions.
The offensive has been ongoing for four days as of Friday. It is not only Ukraine’s most significant attack on Russian territory since the full-scale invasion in 2022 but also the fiercest assault since the Kremlin’s secretive seizure of Crimea and Donbas ten years ago.
Some analysts believe that Russia has been making consistent gains over the past few months along a 1,000-kilometer front within Ukraine. This attack aims to divert Russian forces in the east, exposing their vulnerabilities and strengthening Kyiv’s position in future negotiations with Moscow.
On Friday evening, Ukraine publicly confirmed the invasion of Russia for the first time, with a military brigade releasing a video of soldiers in control of the gas measurement station in Sudzha, a crucial hub for supplying natural gas to Europe.
In the video, a Ukrainian soldier stated, “The town is now under the control of the Ukrainian armed forces. It is calm, and all buildings are intact.” He added that a Ukrainian battalion now controlled a “strategic facility” belonging to the Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom.
The 61st Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine announced on Telegram, “Sudzha has been completely secured by the Ukrainian military.”
The Epoch Times could not independently verify the claims made by frontline soldiers. The Ukrainian military’s General Staff has not issued any comments.
Russia has declared a state of emergency in Kursk and Lipetsk, where intense battles have taken place with Ukrainian forces.
So far, at least four Ukrainian mechanized and airborne brigades have participated in this operation. Verified military footage shows them using American Stryker armored vehicles and German Marder infantry fighting vehicles, which were provided as military assistance to Kyiv.
Officials from the United States and Germany have stated that deploying these armored vehicles in Russia does not violate the terms of their use.
Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of Kursk, reported that fragments of Ukrainian drones fell on a power plant near Kurchatov, one of Russia’s largest nuclear power plants with four reactors, causing a temporary loss of electricity in the region.
The Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency urged both sides to exercise restraint.
Ukrainian President Zelensky refrained from directly commenting on the operation but offered subtle remarks. He praised the Ukrainian military for its “surprise” capabilities.
In a late-night address, he thanked the military for capturing Russian soldiers, which he believes will enhance Ukraine’s negotiating leverage in future talks.
Zelensky also expressed gratitude to the Ukrainian military for “destroying Russian occupiers, holding the front line, and ensuring Ukraine remains on the world map.”
He stated, “We are making every effort to provide our soldiers with more opportunities to end this war as soon as possible and achieve a just and lasting peace.”
While Kyiv continues military operations, he mentioned that on Friday, Russia launched an attack on a supermarket in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka, resulting in at least 12 civilian deaths and 44 injuries.
Ben Barry, a land warfare analyst from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, noted that though broader strategic objectives remain unclear, Ukraine has exposed Russia’s weaknesses and challenged traditional perceptions of the war, where both sides suffer significant losses during offensives.
He told Reuters, “They clearly achieved an element of surprise which shows weaknesses in Russian intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.”
A verified video by Reuters showed about 15 burnt Russian military trucks on a highway in Kursk. A Ukrainian Telegram channel claimed these trucks were hit by the HIMARS rocket system provided by the United States. Russian military bloggers also suggested that these trucks were hit by HIMARS.
On Friday, the United States announced the provision of $125 million in military aid to Ukraine, including Stinger air defense missiles, artillery ammunition, and anti-armor systems. Zelensky stated that this assistance is crucial in “countering Russia’s assaults.”
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense released a video claiming that a drone destroyed a Ukrainian tank and artillery near Sudzha. The shooting location of the video has been verified by Reuters.
In the past 24 hours, Russia’s Defense Ministry stated that they had thwarted attacks by Ukrainian forces attempting to penetrate deep into Russian territory from Kursk, and claimed that Ukraine had lost up to 945 soldiers and 102 armored vehicles, without mentioning Russian losses. However, these figures cannot be independently verified during times of conflict.
Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk told the Financial Times that Kyiv had planned this operation in advance to distract Russian forces fighting elsewhere in Ukraine.
The operation also aims to expose Russia’s vulnerabilities, including its inability to protect its borders, and to allow Ukraine to seize the initiative.
Zagorodnyuk stated that the Ukrainian military demonstrated its ability to execute the “Joint Forces Operation New Tactics” taught by Western military instructors.
He clarified that Ukraine’s goal is not to “permanently” occupy Russian territory.
Konrad Muzyka, director of the Polish military advisory firm Rochan, told the Financial Times that if Ukraine’s actions force Russia to shift resources from Eastern Donetsk and allow Kyiv to maintain a presence in Kursk, then Ukraine’s actions could improve its negotiating position in the future.