Residents send an urgent video message to Putin

With Ukraine’s progress in Kursk, Putin faces problems in Russia. After the Kremlin initially denied the Kursk offensive, residents are now appealing to Putin.

KYIV/MOSCOW – Crossing the border into Russia’s Kursk region on Wednesday (August 7), Ukrainian armed forces managed a rare relief attack to defend their country in the war in Ukraine. Since Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops arrived on the western Russian border, they have been able to take control of some villages in Kursk, according to international media. Vladimir Putin declared a state of emergency in the West of Russia It also strengthened the security of the nuclear power plant at the site.

The Kremlin decided — to its detriment, of course — to initially deny the Ukrainian Kursk offensive and instead pretend the situation in the region was “under control.” There are “high losses”. Ukraine In Kursk, more than 80 armored vehicles were destroyed and about 700 Ukrainian military personnel were wounded or killed, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a telegram after the Kursk offensive began. But even on the third day of the Kursk offensive, the Kremlin is in no position to do anything decisive against the advancing Ukrainians.

Kursk residents make video appeal to Putin – he “doesn’t know” the situation there

Now, concerned residents of besieged Kursk have made an urgent appeal to the Kremlin via video message. Business Insider reported. There, affected residents point out that armed conflicts in their own region are far more violent than Russian officials are willing to admit. The nearly five-minute clip was shared on the messenger service by the Russian channel “Native Chudja,” which reports regional news from Kursk. telegram.

More than twenty people from the Chudzhansky district gathered in the video released on Thursday (August 8). In it, they said Putin did not have enough information about how dire the situation was for local civilians as Ukrainian troops continued to advance across the border into Russia.

“The chief of staff told us recently that the situation is under control,” the Kursk resident said in the video, as translated by US media. CNN. “But even today heavy fighting is taking place in Chudzhansky and Korenevsky districts,” he added in his message.

Local residents do not believe the Russian authorities’ information about the Kursk attack

Residents said they were left homeless as a result of the Ukrainian offensive and relied on messages from Telegram channels instead of local authorities for their own safety. “With no place to go, no compensation and no money, we were alone with our children. We fled with the cloth on our back,” a resident said loudly in the video CNN– Translation.

Many said they were unable to take their identity cards or travel documents with them because they had to evacuate so suddenly and so quickly. They also criticized Russian officials who were aware that Ukraine had been massing its forces along the border with Russia in recent days.

Another Kursk resident addressed Putin directly, saying residents of the town of Guevo in the Sudzha region, less than 50 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, were not evacuated by authorities, leaving them stranded in the middle of the fighting. Khevo is one of a dozen Russian villages currently under Ukrainian control, according to international media reports.

Zelensky comments on Kursk – Russia must realize “what it did to Ukraine”.

How far Ukrainian troops are advancing in Kursk is difficult to track due to misinformation and scarcity from the Russian side. Nevertheless, some Ukrainian armored vehicles are now said to have advanced fifteen kilometers deep into Russian territory. According to Russian reports, Ukraine launched the offensive with about 1,000 soldiers and about 40 armored vehicles, including tanks.