FSB Claim Ukrainian 'Provocation' Repelled On Kursk Border

The interim governor of Russia's Kursk region, bordering Ukraine to the south, has claimed that Russian armed forces and the FSB security services have repelled an attempted incursion by around 100 fighters from within Ukraine. The FSB says Ukraine attempted to carry out a 'provocation' on the border, but that measures have been taken to thwart the 'aggression'.

• This comes amid intense fighting around the city of Toretsk in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. The area has been the site of a major Russian offensive over the summer, with estimates from UK-based intel services putting Russian casualties around 70k in May and June alone.
• NYT reports, "...if Russian forces managed to seize the longtime defensive bastions in the Toretsk area, they would be poised to press on toward Kostiantynivka, a logistical linchpin for Ukrainian forces in the east, from yet another direction of attack. [...] an advance of just a few more miles would expose [Kostiantynivka and Pokrovsk] to even more fearsome daily bombardments. Hundreds of thousands of civilians could be forced to flee, complicating the logistics of the Ukrainian defense...."
• On 5 August President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine has deployed its first US-made F-16 fighter jets. There is hope in Kyiv that the jets will be able to improve the country's air defences against Russian drone and missile attacks. However, it remains to be seen what ordnance the F-16s will be equipped with, and therefore their ability to counter glide bombs used to hit Ukrainian frontline positions with devastating effect.