In Kursk region, Ukrainian Air Assault Forces storm the building of a women’s colony

According to Novynarnia, in Russia’s Kursk region, Ukrainian forces are storming a women’s prison building where Russian soldiers have taken refuge.

This was reported on August 23 by the media project “Bild in Russian,” and the information is corroborated by a video from the 95th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

According to “Bild,” in the village of Mala Loknya, 14 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, Russian military forces have turned Women’s Penal Colony No. 11 into a fortress and are fiercely resisting the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It is likely that even the colony’s guards are participating in the defense.

Since 2011, the colony has held 203 female convicts serving sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years.

Several dozen Russian soldiers have fortified positions around the colony, erected barricades, and are using the prison’s watchtowers as firing positions, while the massive buildings serve as protection against Ukrainian attacks.

The Ukrainian military, in turn, is targeting the defenders with Marder infantry fighting vehicles and attacking with drones.

Russian “Z-bloggers” confirm that Mala Loknya has been almost completely surrounded by Ukrainian units, but inside the prison complex, Russian Armed Forces soldiers continue to hold their ground.

It is still unclear how many inmates remain in the women’s colony in Mala Loknya.

A scene from the colony was featured in a video captured by drone operators from the 95th Separate Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Ukrainian Armed Forces’ offensive in the Kursk Direction

As reported by “Novynarnia,” on the morning of August 6, Russian Telegram channels claimed that units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces had allegedly entered Russia’s Kursk region, which borders the Sumy region. Fighting is ongoing in the border area near the Russian city of Sudzha.

The authorities of Russia’s Kursk region claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly attempted to breach the Russian border, but this was supposedly prevented. Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported that a “Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group retreated from the Kursk region back to its territory.”

However, it later became clear that the offensive is ongoing. On the first day of fighting in the Kursk region, a Ka-52 helicopter was destroyed, several tanks were burned, and Russian soldiers were captured.

According to Russian sources, regular military units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including the 22nd Mechanized Brigade, the 80th Air Assault Brigade, and others, have entered Russian territory.

A video has surfaced online showing Ukrainian Defense Forces leading captured Russian soldiers back towards Ukraine.

Additionally, OSINT specialists shared footage of burned Russian T-62 tanks, which the Russians hadn’t even managed to unload from their trailers.

On August 7, it was reported that 22 Russian conscripts surrendered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. Later, information emerged about other large groups of Russian soldiers being captured.

As of the morning of August 7, some channels reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had occupied between three and eleven settlements in the Kursk region, advanced 15 kilometers, and triggered a mass evacuation of the Russian population.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces began operating on at least two tactical fronts:

• Towards the village of Zelenyi Shliakh, along the eastern bank of the Snahist River.
• Towards the city of Sudzha, along the R-200 road, north of the Oleshna River.

On August 12, Ukrainian military personnel released a video after battles within the city of Sudzha, from which they had driven out the Russian forces.

The events are taking place in the operational zone of the “Sever” military group, which is deployed across three Russian border regions—Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod—and is conducting an offensive operation in Russia’s Kharkiv region. According to military expert Kostyantyn Mashovets, the offensive actions in the Sudzha direction are “clearly part of a single, well-coordinated plan by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to counter the enemy both in the Kharkiv and Sumy operational directions.”

The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ offensive has forced the Russian command to “relocate reserve forces and resources to this area.”

In the Kursk direction offensive, the Ukrainian military is using a new tactical symbol—a triangle.

On August 12, during a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Staff, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi officially confirmed for the first time the Ukrainian Defense Forces’ offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.

In Russia, it was claimed that as of August 12, Ukrainian forces controlled 28 settlements in the Kursk region. However, analysts from the Ukrainian project DeepState reported a different figure—at least 44 settlements.

On August 15, Ukraine established its first military commandant’s office in the Kursk region, headed by Major General Eduard Moskaliov.

On August 19, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine now controls 92 settlements in the Kursk region.

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi noted that as of August 12, approximately 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory were under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. By August 20, this figure had increased to 1,263 square kilometers.

The Commander-in-Chief presented a map showing the battlefront and territorial control in the Kursk region.

On this day, it was reported that the Ukrainian Defense Forces had captured their second “Pryoriv” tank in the Kursk region.

On August 22, Syrskyi informed Zelensky that another settlement in the Kursk region was now under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The previous raid in the Belgorod and Kursk regions of Russia took place from March 12 to 21, 2024, conducted by the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, the “Legion of Free Russia”, and the “Siberian Battalion,” which are part of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. The current operation involves a significantly larger number of regular army troops and demonstrates clear intentions to hold the captured territories.

Tags: kursk kursk operation kursk region Russia russia ukraine war Ukraine ukrainecounteroffensive