Russia said it has stopped the advance of hundreds of troops in an assault on a town in the border region of Kursk, but fighting continues. Russian President Putin has accused Ukraine of a “large scale provocation.”
Russia said on Wednesday that it was continuing to battle Ukrainian troops that crossed into the border region of Kursk a day earlier.
“The operation for the destruction of Ukrainian army units is continuing,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on social media.
“The enemy’s movement further into Russian territory has been prevented.”
Kursk’s acting governor said several thousand people had been evacuated from the border region.
“In the last 24 hours, our region has been heroically resisting attacks,” Alexei Smirnov said.
He also urged locals to donate blood.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was carrying out a “large-scale provocation” in the region.
Five people reportedly killed
Russia said as many as 300 Ukrainian soldiers, supported by tanks, had launched an assault on Russian border forces in the Kursk settlements of Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya. Those two towns are just across from the Ukrainian border region of Sumy.
The troops then advanced to the Russian town of Sudzha, home to last operational trans-shipment point for Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine. Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant lies around 60 kilometers (40 miles) away
At least five people have been killed and 24 others injured, according to Russian authorities.
On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that “border defense troops, together with military units of the FSB border force” were “repelling attacks and inflicting fire damage on the enemy.”
Ukraine has not explicitly said it is carrying out a fresh offensive on the Kursk region. Ukraine’s general staff, however, has mentioned Russian attacks on border villages in Ukraine.
Is fighting around Russia’s border regions common?
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. There have been several incursions into Russian territory since then.
In May 2023, the Ukrainian-based Freedom of Russia Legion made up of Russian citizens conducted raids into the Belgorod region of Russia. The Russian Volunteer Corps unit, which is also composed of Russian nationals, helped out in those border raids.
In March 2023, the Russian Volunteer Corps said they were responsible for a raid in the Russian border region of Bryansk.
Neither the Freedom of Russia Legion nor the Russian Volunteers Corps have commented on Tuesday’s reported border attacks on the Russian Kursk region.
