Ukraine – Russia, fighting in Kursk region. “Gazprom's strategic facility” under Ukrainian control

Ukrainian military officials released a recording on Friday in which they reported that the Armed Forces Ukraine control the town of Sudzha in the Kursk Oblast in western Russia and the local “strategic Gazprom facility”.

– The city is under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The city is calm, all buildings are intact. The strategic Gazprom facility in the city of Sudzha is under the control of the 99th mechanized battalion of the 61st independent steppe brigade – said one of the soldiers in the recording, shared by the Unian service, among others.

Reuters, which also reported the publication of the recording in Ukrainian media, said it was unable to verify it, and the Ukrainian General Staff did not comment on the matter.

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A day earlier, on Thursday, The Washington Post, citing an anonymous adviser to the Ukrainian president, wrote that Ukrainian forces had seized a gas measuring station in the town of Sudzha, through which gas is sent to Europe.

The Kursk nuclear power plant is located about 70 km from Sudzha. According to the media, the Russians are preparing to defend the facility.

Reuters noted that on Friday, the governor of Kursk Oblast, Alexei Smirnov, said that the city of Kurchatov, with a population of 42,000 – home to one of Russia's largest nuclear power plants – was without electricity because debris from a Ukrainian drone fell on one of the facility's substations, causing a fire.

Earlier, the city's mayor, Igor Korpunkov, reported ongoing fighting several dozen kilometers from the Kursk power plant.

These events coincided with the actions of Russian law enforcement agencies, which blocked access to the power plant on Friday afternoon. The source of the Vaznye Istorii service reported that the facility's management instructed employees to take unpaid leave and evacuate children.

Also on Friday a federal state of emergency was introduced in the Kursk region. The reason is the offensive by Ukrainian forces that has been ongoing there since Tuesday. This is the first incursion of foreign troops into Russian territory since 1941. According to Russian sources, about 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers have penetrated there, supported by tanks, armored vehicles, drones and artillery. According to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), in some places Ukrainian forces have already penetrated 35 km into the region.

Kursk is the only nuclear power plant where new power units are being built, the Vaznye Istorii service noted. The units under construction were disconnected from the network, and workers left the facility. The service added that construction workers have been leaving the site since Wednesday. Rosatom confirmed that their number at the Kursk power plant has been reduced.

The well-known Russian blogger “Alex Parker” also wrote about the prepared defense of the power plant. According to him, groups of 5-20 Ukrainian soldiers were spotted at a distance of about 39 km from the power plant. There is information about fighting in the town of Kromskiye Byki, located about 30 km from the power plant.