Ukrainian forces staged an overnight ambush on a Russian convoy 25 miles inside the international border in Russia’s Kursk province, as the Kremlin declared a federal emergency and said it was transferring extra forces to try to snuff out a four-day incursion that has badly damaged its credibility. Russia’s defense ministry said at lunchtime that it was transferring military reserves to the Kursk region, according to the Interfax news agency, including Grad rockets, artillery and tanks. A video released by Zvezda, official Russian military media, showed a convoy of lorries carrying armored vehicles down a highway. Meanwhile, 10 Ukrainians were reported killed and 35 injured after a Russian missile struck a supermarket during the day in the Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka, about 8 miles from the eastern frontline in Donetsk. “Russian terrorists hit an ordinary supermarket and a post office. There are people under the rubble,” the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said. Ukraine was able to burst through a lightly defended Kursk border on Tuesday morning with several hundred troops, according to Russia. Ukraine’s forces have engaged in fast-moving manoeuvre warfare, a type of combat that has rarely been seen during the war in Ukraine, which has been largely dominated by fortified trenches and heavy mining, preventing breakthroughs. Ukraine’s leaders have largely avoided commenting on the attack, the first time their country’s regular armed forces have broken through the international border, though on Thursday night Zelenskiy alluded to developments. Attacks inside Russia had been considered politically fraught for Ukraine. Its western allies, led by the US, have refused to allow highly valued western weapons to be used to strike into Russia’s internationally recognised borders for fear of wider escalation. However, this week the White House has been relatively supportive, which Shelest said would be a relief to Ukraine’s leaders. In April, the US publicly criticised Ukraine for targeting Russian oil refineries, fearing the impact on energy prices and inflation. But on Thursday, Sabrina Singh, the press secretary for the Pentagon, said Ukraine’s incursion into Russia was “consistent with our policy”, though it also remained the case that “we don’t support long-range attacks” into Russia. Singh refused to define what was meant by long-range.
