Kursk, Moscow against the US. Mercenaries’ silence on involvement –

Moscow has blamed Washington for Ukraine’s attack on Russian soil in Kursk, saying it has evidence that American mercenaries are taking part in the offensive and warning that it may bomb them. Putin’s forces, meanwhile, are restructuring military commands to strengthen border defenses, with Defense Minister Andrei Belousov announcing he will take responsibility for major decisions. Earlier this week, Forward Observations Group posted a photo on Instagram of three men in military fatigues with weapons and blue armbands with an armored vehicle behind them. “Boys in Kursk,” the photo was captioned, with geolocation data indicating it was taken from the Russian region. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the participation of the US private paramilitary company alongside the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the incursion into the Kursk region proved the involvement of the United States and that its mercenaries should therefore be considered a legitimate military target.

Forward Observation Group, a private US paramilitary company whose fighters are involved in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ offensive against the Kursk region, has refused to comment on its involvement in Kiev’s operations. This was reported by the Russian news agency “RIA Novosti”, according to which representatives of Forward Observation Group did not want to comment due to a ban imposed by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). “With all due respect to the top management of the Security Service of Ukraine, all questions should be addressed to them. We have no comment to make,” a spokesperson for the company said. President Vladimir Putin has ordered his army to expel Ukrainian troops and liberate the Kursk region by October 1, RBC-Ukraine reports. However, their task is to do this without withdrawing forces from key areas in Donbass where Russia is conducting an offensive,