MOSCOW — A series of Ukrainian drone strikes targeted Russia’s western Kursk region overnight, damaging a city hospital and nearby residential buildings, according to Russian officials. The attack marks another escalation along the volatile Russia-Ukraine border, where active fighting continues to unfold across multiple fronts.
Kursk regional Governor Alexander Khinshtein reported that drone fragments struck the No. 1 City Hospital in the regional capital, Kursk, breaking windows and damaging infrastructure. “Fortunately, no patients were injured,” Khinshtein said via Telegram, adding that debris also hit high-rise apartment buildings, causing further destruction. At least one person was reportedly injured in the assault.
The Kursk region, which borders Ukraine’s embattled Sumy region, has been the target of repeated Ukrainian cross-border drone and sabotage operations in recent months. Kyiv has not formally claimed responsibility for the latest strike, though Ukrainian military officials have previously confirmed limited operations within Russian territory, including in Kursk.
Just across the border in Ukraine’s Sumy region, where Russian forces have seized several villages, regional officials confirmed that frontline positions remain unstable. Sumy Governor Oleh Hryhorov said on Facebook that “active battles continue” near the villages of Khotyn and Yunakivka, as control of several settlements continues to shift.
“The situation on the line of contact is constantly changing,” Hryhorov wrote. “In some areas, our forces maintain the initiative; in others, the enemy is aggressively advancing.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has explicitly stated his intention to create a buffer zone in Sumy, citing the region’s alleged role in launching Ukrainian raids into Russian territory, including last year’s Ukrainian incursion into Kursk.
Although the Russian military claims it has repelled all Ukrainian forces from Kursk since that incursion, Ukrainian military sources maintain that their forces remain active in limited pockets of the region, continuing sabotage operations and intelligence gathering.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry on Thursday claimed further territorial advances in eastern Ukraine, as its military presses forward in Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. The ministry said its troops had taken control of three more villages — Stroivka in northeastern Kharkiv, and Shevchenko Pershe and Hnativka near Pokrovsk, a town that has been the focal point of Russia’s months-long westward campaign.
Ukraine’s armed forces have not confirmed the loss of these villages. Instead, a military briefing late Thursday reported that Russian troops had launched 53 separate attacks near Pokrovsk over the previous 24 hours, suggesting that fighting remains intense and fluid.
The renewed drone strike on Kursk underscores the evolving nature of the conflict, where unmanned aerial systems (UAS) play an increasingly prominent role. Ukraine has relied on both long-range drones and localized sabotage operations to disrupt Russian logistics and target military and civilian infrastructure deep inside Russian territory.
The damage to a civilian hospital and residential buildings in Kursk will likely heighten tensions and could prompt retaliatory strikes by Moscow, especially as the Kremlin seeks to shore up domestic support for its military operations ahead of another potential summer offensive.
With fighting intensifying along the Sumy border and in eastern Ukraine, the situation on the ground remains highly volatile. Russia’s continued push to gain ground and establish buffer zones is facing resilient Ukrainian resistance, particularly in contested villages near the border.
The latest escalation highlights the growing complexity and reach of the war, now stretching into its third year, with both sides trading blows not just on conventional battlefields but also through strategic strikes on infrastructure and territorial raids.
