Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the Chechen Akhmat unit fighting for Russia, made a rare admission on August 8. He acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had advanced approximately 10 kilometers into Russia's Kursk Oblast as of August 7.
Alaudinov is a close ally of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and an official at the Russian Defense Ministry.
In a video published by the Russian independent outlet Agentstvo, he confirmed the Ukrainian incursion and the loss of Russian troops.
"The situation is not irreversible, nothing supernatural happened... Yes, our people died, that's a fact. The enemy has entered several settlements," Alaudinov stated according to the Kyiv Independent.
This is the first time a Russian commander has admitted to losses since Ukraine began its cross-border operation into Kursk Oblast on August 6. Despite Russian claims that the Ukrainian advance had been stopped, fighting in the area is still ongoing.
Alaudinov did not give specific numbers about the losses.
A shorter version of the video was posted on his personal Telegram channel, where the mention of losses was removed.
The Chechen commander confirmed that Ukrainian forces had "advanced well into our territory, about 10 kilometers."
This estimate matches with an analysis by the U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which reported similar findings on August 7 based on geolocated footage.
Kyiv has mostly avoided commenting on the operations in Kursk Oblast, which borders Ukraine's Sumy Oblast—a region that has faced daily attacks since Russian troops were pushed back across the border in April 2022.
Reports of Chechen special forces being deployed in Kursk Oblast emerged in April, with their presence later confirmed by Kadyrov.
Alaudinov claimed that his forces couldn't stop the Ukrainian advance because Ukrainian troops bypassed key strongholds.
However, Russian military blogger Yuri Kotenok claimed that Chechen forces fled the area soon after the Ukrainian attack.
As of August 8, Russia reported that battles were ongoing in the Sudzhansky (Sudzha) and Korenevsky (Korenevo) border districts of Kursk Oblast. Sudzha is less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and the city of Kursk is 85 kilometers (53 miles) northeast of Sudzha.
