Russia faces Ukrainian incursions in border areas with bombings and evacuations

Ukrainian troops entered the area on Tuesday with about 300 soldiers, a dozen tanks and about 20 other armored vehicles, according to Moscow.

Kyiv has remained largely silent on the operation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the move as a “massive provocation” and said the “Kiev regime” was “indiscriminately firing at civilian buildings, homes and ambulances with all types of weapons, including rockets.”

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The leader is expected to meet with the heads of security forces and the army later on Wednesday.

The Russian Defense Ministry assured that “operations to destroy Ukrainian army formations continue” more than 24 hours after the invasion began.

He added that clashes continued “throughout the night” in the area “immediately adjacent to the border.”

The ministry claimed on Telegram that Russian soldiers “prevented the enemy from advancing deep into Russian territory,” apparently acknowledging that Ukrainian soldiers had made gains in the operation.

According to the Telegram chain RaibarUkrainian troops, which have millions of followers and close ties to the Russian military, have occupied three villages in the Kursk region.

A small drone destroyed a Russian Mi-28 helicopter in mid-flight, an “unprecedented event in the history of warfare,” a source in the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) told Fides.

Thousands of evacuees

Thousands of people evacuated the area due to fighting and explosions, which left at least five civilians dead and 28 injured, local authorities said.

According to the Russian Health Ministry, 13 people were hospitalized in the region following the explosion in Ukraine, including three minors.

Ukrainian authorities have remained mostly silent on the situation in Kursk, with several senior officials declining to comment when asked by the agency.

Ukrainian military expert Sergey Zguretsky believes that Ukrainian troops appear to be trying to divert Russian troops from other parts of the front line, where they have been exerting pressure for several months.

He told Fides that the geographical location of this part of Russia allows “to effectively carry out such deterrence operations against the enemy with a lean apparatus, and this is probably what the Ukrainian army is doing.”

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Drone attacks

Two other Russian regions bordering Ukraine – Voronezh and Belgorod – were also targeted in Ukrainian drone attacks on residential buildings on Wednesday, according to local authorities.

“Two drones struck a building in Belgorod Chebekino, breaking the windows of one apartment and causing a fire in another,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram, adding that “no one was hurt”.

In Voronezh, the capital of the eponymous region, the wreckage of two drones shot down by air defense forces damaged the facade of one building and shattered the windows of several apartments in another building, explained Alexander Gusev, governor of the Voronezh region.

Ukrainian militants have invaded Russia several times since the conflict broke out in February 2022.

Each time, Russian forces claimed to have repelled them, but some of them forced it to resort to artillery and aviation, as in Tuesday’s incursion.

The operation comes as Kiev’s forces, short of ammunition and recruits, have struggled in recent months to curb the advance of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.

In May, Russian troops also launched a ground offensive in the Kharkiv border region, capturing several towns before being stopped by Ukrainian troops.