Russian Ministry of Defence claims old videos as footage of strikes on Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kursk Oblast – media

The videos released by the Russian Ministry of Defence as recordings of "successful strikes" on the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) in Kursk Oblast had been filmed elsewhere, and a long ago.

Source: The Insider investigators, Russian Ministry of Defence

Details: The Russian state-owned propaganda news agency RIA Novosti, citing the Russian Defence Ministry, posted a video on 10 August showing how "Russian Mi-28NM helicopters hitting Armed Forces of Ukraine manpower and armoured vehicles in the Kursk [Oblast] border area with S-13 air missiles".

The investigators found out that the video was actually filmed in the Ukrainian towns of Kreminna and Chasiv Yar.

The Russian Ministry of Defence published a video on 9 August showing allegedly new strikes by the Russian military against the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Sumy Oblast.

"The crew of the Su-34 multirole supersonic fighter-bomber of [Russia’s] Air and Space Forces fired upon an accumulation of AFU manpower and military equipment at a temporary deployment point identified in one of the districts of [Ukraine’s] Sumy Oblast bordering Kursk [Oblast]," the video description reads.

However, this video was filmed a long time ago – it was posted by the state-run TASS news agency on 14 July.

Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defence said on Sunday afternoon that the Russians had prevented attempts by Ukrainian mobile groups on armoured vehicles to break through deep into Russian territory near the settlements of Tolpino, Zhuravli, and Obshchii Kolodez in Kursk Oblast, and also prevented an attempt by the Armed Forces to break through into the Belovsky district in Kursk Oblast.

The Ukrainian authorities and military leadership have not officially reported on the operation in Kursk Oblast and have not commented on the progress in the area.

Background:

• On the morning of 6 August, Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of Russia's Kursk Oblast, claimed that Ukrainian forces had mounted an attempt to infiltrate the Sudzha and Korenevo districts of Kursk Oblast. Russian propagandists and milbloggers are claiming that Ukrainian forces have secured a foothold in the border area. Russian ruler Vladimir Putin called the situation a "provocation".
• Earlier, Russia's Defence Ministry confirmed the advance of supposedly Ukrainian forces in two districts of Kursk Oblast and noted that it had moved reserves to the border and was "attacking Ukrainian troops from the air". 
• On 9 August, Russia’s Ministry of Defence issued a statement on the situation in Kursk Oblast, acknowledging that Ukrainian forces were on the outskirts of the town of Sudzha.
• Igor Korpunkov, Mayor of the Russian town of Kurchatov, where the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is located, reported that fighting is now taking place a few dozen kilometres away from the town borders, but urged residents not to panic.
• A counter-terrorist operation (CTO) regime was imposed in Russia’s Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod oblasts on the night of 9-10 August. A state of emergency was declared in Kursk Oblast on 7 August, two days after the supposed Ukrainian incursion.

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