Aug. 7 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday accused Ukraine of a “large-scale provocation” amid reports of an incursion on the Kursk region.
Putin’s statement came after Russia claimed Ukrainian troops backed by 11 tanks and more than 20 armored vehicles attacked the region on Tuesday. Ukraine did not immediately comment publicly on the alleged attack.
“As you know, the Kyiv regime has undertaken yet another large-scale provocation, delivering indiscriminate fire from various types of weapons, including missiles, at civilian buildings, residential houses, and ambulances,” Putin said in comments shared by the Kremlin on Telegram.
According to Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov in televised remarks Wednesday, Ukraine’s “advance” into Kursk was met by Russian forces “continuing to destroy the adversary in areas directly adjacent to the Russian-Ukrainian border.”
Gerasimov said Ukraine used up to 1,000 troops for the cross-border attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that “air and missile strikes, artillery fire as well as units of the State Border Covering Force prevented the enemy from advancing deep into the territory of the Russian Federation.”
Russian officials and thousands of Russian residents in the area fled the fighting.
In a Telegram post, Kursk Acting Governor Alexey Smirnov said “settlements in the Kursk region were subjected to massive shelling from Ukraine. There are dead and injured civilians. As previously reported, two people were wounded in the Glushkovsky district, five people, including three children, in the city of Sudzha.”
Smirnov added on the Kursk governor Telegram channel that the attack came from Ukraine’s 22nd Mechanized Brigade and added that, “troops covering the state border, together with the units of the border troops of the FSB of Russia, are repelling attacks and inflicting fire damage on the enemy in the area of the state border and reserves in the territory of the Sumy region.”
The alleged Ukrainian incursion happened around 5 p.m. local time Tuesday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Putin, whose forces have routinely purposefully attacked Ukrainian civilian targets since invading Ukraine in February 2022, accused Ukraine of firing indiscriminately at civilian buildings and residences in the Kursk attack.
According to a Telegram statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, “Having suffered losses, the Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group retreated to its territory, some of the militants tried to gain a foothold directly on the territory adjacent to the state border, where they were blocked by units of the Russian army.”
