Ukraine crosses border into Russia: What we know one week later

What happened in the Kursk region?

Kursk Oblast Governor Smirnov said the fighting had killed at least 12 civilians and injured 121.

Russian state media rarely broadcast images from the border region as the Kremlin seeks to downplay the impact of the war on civilians.

But Smirnov said 121,000 people had left or been evacuated as of Monday. The governor of neighboring Belgorod region also announced an evacuation from a border region.

Emergency aid has been delivered to border areas and additional trains have been added to the capital, Moscow, to transport people fleeing the fighting.

A local Russian television station broadcast footage of the center of Souja, showing destroyed buildings, rubble-strewn streets and large craters from shelling.

Several Russian media outlets shared a video showing residents fleeing the town asking Putin for help, with many warning that family members were unable to evacuate.

“In a few hours, our town was reduced to ruins… Our loved ones were abandoned, we couldn’t call them, there was no contact. Please help us get our land back,” one resident said in the video.

On August 7, Russian media shared a video in which the town’s priest, Evgeny Shestopalov, said that Souja was “on fire” and that residents who could not evacuate had taken shelter in his church.

Why is SUDZHA important?

The town of about 5,000 people is home to the Sudja metering station, the last major transit point for Russian pipeline natural gas shipped through Ukraine to Europe.

It is the largest town Ukraine has fought for control of during the invasion.

According to RBC Ukraine news agency, the amount of natural gas transported through the Suja pipeline in 2023 was about 14.65 billion cubic meters, which is slightly less than half of Russia’s natural gas exports to Europe.

Although Europe has significantly cut its reliance on Russian pipeline gas since the invasion, Russia continues to supply gas through the Sudja pipeline under a five-year agreement signed with Kiev in late 2019.

Ukraine said the transit agreement will expire at the end of 2024 and Ukraine will not renew it.

But there are concerns that Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom could use the fighting as an excuse to prematurely stop exporting gas through the Sudja pipeline.

The Aug. 9 video showed Ukrainian soldiers carrying assault rifles and flags in front of a Gazprom facility near the town.