Russian Official Calls for 'Carpet Bombing' of Kursk

A Russian politician has called for the carpet bombing of her own country's Kursk region on state TV amid a sweeping incursion by Ukraine that has so far seen its forces occupy at least 92 settlements there in two weeks.

Former State Duma deputy Natalya Narotchnitskaya made the comments during an appearance on Russia's state-run Channel One, which was shared by the ASTRA Telegram channel on Monday.

"I believe that after everything that happened in Kursk Region, such retribution should be carried out!" she said. "They [Ukrainian forces] should be surrounded and everything should be destroyed! Just a carpet [bombing], you understand? I hope that they are preparing for this."

Since Kyiv launched its surprise incursion into Kursk, which borders Ukraine's Sumy region, Ukrainian forces have seized control of 1,250 square kilometers (482 square miles) of Russian territory and 92 settlements, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday.

The scale of the offensive is significant—Ukraine is now reported to have seized more territory in the Kursk region since it launched its incursion on on August 6 than Russia has captured in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. It also marks the first time that foreign troops have seized Russian territory since World War II.

Tens of thousands of Kursk residents have been evacuated from their homes.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian defense ministry for comment via email.

Narotchnitskaya's comments come after Kremlin propagandist Sergey Mardan floated the possibility of a nuclear strike on Kursk on the state TV show Solovyov Live.

Days into the incursion, Mardan said he believes the world would be "upset" if Russia uses nuclear weapons in response to the Kursk offensive, but that the public would eventually understand that it was a logical decision.

"And as for all the opinions that have been discussed over the last two years about the impossibility of a nuclear strike by Russia, what could be the consequences, what could be the reaction of the West and the global South in particular…well, in this situation, I am personally absolutely convinced that the reaction will be…Well, everyone will be upset, of course, a little bit. But in general they will say: OK. It's logical," Mardan said.

"What did you expect?" the propagandist continued. "The fighting is not just on Russian territory. Kursk region is such a Russia that…I don't even know what to compare it to; such an indigenous historical core, the Russian core. And there's fighting going on there right now.

"Therefore, a scenario in which a strike is launched against [Ukrainian] military facilities with the use of nuclear warheads ceases to be theoretical, ceases to be unlikely."

Russian General Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Akhmat special forces unit and an ally of President Vladimir Putin, suggested Tuesday that fighting in the Kursk region may continue for several months.

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