Kursk Oblast

	WARNING: The Russian war on Ukraine has turned the Oblast into a war zone. The Ukrainian military conducted an offensive into Kursk Oblast, and some border regions are under Ukrainian occupation.
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	(Information last updated 08 Aug 2024)

Welcome sign upon entry into Kursk Oblast

Kursk Oblast is a region in Russia's Chernozemye region, bordering Ukraine to the west, Bryansk Oblast to the northwest, Oryol Oblast to the north, Lipetsk Oblast to the northeast, Voronezh Oblast to the east, and Belgorod Oblast to the south.

Cities

• 1 Kursk — the capital of the region is a major iron ore production center and houses several baroque cathedrals
• 2 Rylsk — this "town-museum" has more than its fair share of fine 19th century Russian architecture, including two impressive cathedrals; there are also two important and interesting country manors just outside the town
• 3 Svoboda — a little town called "Freedom," home to one of the most famous monasteries in the Chernozemye and to the Kursk Korenskaya Fair
• 4 Zheleznogorsk - with a very impressive gigantic open-air site nearby (Mikhailovsky iron open cut), where iron ore has been mined

Other destinations

• 1 Tsentralno-Chernozemny Biosphere Reserve

Understand

Although Kursk Oblast is most famously associated with the Battle of Kursk — the biggest tank battle in history — the heart of the battle actually took place to the south of Kursk, near Prokhorovka, Belgorod Oblast.

Kursk Oblast is a major center for iron ore mining in Russia, and one of its most unusual features is the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly. The Kursk Magnetic Anomaly is the world's largest such anomaly (a local variation in the Earth's magnetic field resulting from variations in the chemistry or magnetism of the rocks).

Talk

Without any knowledge of Russian it's hard to get around in this region.