Major offensive underway: Mass drone attack, Putin in trouble

Thousands of Ukrainian troops crossed the Russian border in the early hours of August 6 into Russia's West Kursk region in what Putin said was a major provocation aimed at gaining a stronger role in possible future ceasefire talks.

After humiliating Russia, Ukraine seized part of the Kursk region, and although Putin said the Russian army would push out Ukrainian troops, it has so far failed to do so in intense fighting.

Russia said on Wednesday it had destroyed 117 Ukrainian drones in Russia overnight, mostly in the Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod, and Nizhny Novgorod regions.

Ukrainian missiles were also said to have been shot down, and Sukhoi Su-34 bombers were shown targeting Ukrainian positions in Kursk. Russian commanders said the Kursk front had stabilized.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces continued to advance and ordered his generals to develop the next "key steps" in the operation.

US President Joe Biden told US officials are in constant contact with Ukraine over the invasion of Russia, which he said has "created a real dilemma" for Putin, who has ordered thousands of troops to be sent to Ukraine in 2022.

The White House said Ukraine did not give advance notice of its incursion and that the United States was not involved in the operation. However, Russian officials have suggested that Ukraine's Western supporters must have known about the attack. A US official said the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk was aimed at forcing Russia to withdraw troops from Ukraine to defend Russian territory from a cross-border attack.

Ukraine's attack on Russia, the largest attack by a foreign power since World War II, dramatically changed the narrative of the war. Since the failure of Ukraine's counteroffensive in 2023, Russia has steadily advanced. Russia on the defensive Putin said on Monday that Ukraine "with the help of its Western masters" aims to improve Kyiv's negotiating position ahead of possible peace talks and slow the advance of Russian forces.

In a sign that the attack will further strengthen the Kremlin's position, Putin questioned what negotiations might look like with an enemy he has accused of indiscriminately shooting at Russian civilians and nuclear facilities. Russian officials say Ukraine is trying to show its Western backers that it can still have major military operations, just as pressure is mounting on Kyiv and Moscow to agree to talks to end the war.

Bringing the war to Russia, Ukraine forced nearly 200,000 Russians to evacuate from border areas.

The governor of the Russian border region of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, calling for continued attacks by Ukrainian forces.

"The situation in the Belgorod region remains difficult and tense," Gladkov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian forces shelled and wounded civilians and destroyed houses every day, he added.

The offensive is risky for Kyiv: Ukraine could expose other parts of the front line by deploying its forces to fight on Russian sovereign territory.

Russia controls 18 percent of Ukraine's territory and has been making progress recently. Ukraine claims control over at least 1,000 square kilometers of Russia, more than double Moscow's figures.

Reuters could not independently verify the situation on the battlefield.