On August 6, Kyiv began the military operation into Kursk, which appeared to take Russian President Vladimir Putin and even Ukraine's allies by surprise. Kyiv later announced it had seized 500 square miles at what was then the lightly-defended border of the Russian region.

The Russian army claims to have regained control of a village in the Kursk border region, with the Defence Ministry stating that the North Group of troops has liberated Nikolayevo-Darino. Meanwhile, Russia launched a massive drone attack,