Reports of fighting in the Kursk region. White House: We will ask Kiev about the attack on Russian territory

Russia said on Wednesday it was engaged in an intense battle with Ukrainian troops who had infiltrated its southern border. Vladimir Putin Reports of the attacks emerged for the first time on Wednesday. Ukraine During a trip to Russia’s Kursk region, he spoke of “massive provocations”.

– I will start with the events in the Kursk region. At a meeting with the Russian government, Putin said that it is known that the Kiev regime has once again launched a large-scale provocation, massively firing rockets and other types of weapons at civilian buildings, homes and ambulances. He announced that on Wednesday he would discuss the situation in the region with the heads of law enforcement and military agencies and called for help for the residents of the region and its authorities. RIA Novosti showed a clip of Putin’s speech.

The news was announced on Wednesday, Alexey Smirnov, acting governor of the Kursk region, said on his Telegram channel. State of emergency.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that about 300 Ukrainian soldiers from the 22nd Mechanized Brigade attempted to enter the Kursk region. The Ukrainian army was scheduled to launch the attack on Tuesday morning with the support of 11 tanks and 20 armored fighting vehicles.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Ukrainians attacked Russian border guards positions in the area of ​​​​a village adjacent to the Ukrainian border (Sumy Oblast).

“An armed provocation took place on the border of Kursk Oblast, but the Russian border guards and army repelled the attack,” Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement on Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning, the Rybar Telegram channel, which is close to the Russian Defense Ministry, reported that Ukrainian troops had captured three villages in Kursk Oblast. According to these reports, Ukrainian soldiers will capture the towns of Nikolayev-Dalgino, Dalgino and Sverdlikovo.

Ribar said that up to 400 Ukrainian soldiers entered the territory of Kursk Oblast and about 2,000 soldiers were located near the border. He assessed that “the events in Kursk Oblast prove that Ukraine’s operation has been prepared for a long time and judging by the number of soldiers near the border – it may take at least a few days.

The Russian independent portal Meduza assessed, based on videos posted on social networks, that the attackers in “the largest Ukrainian operation on Russian territory” were opposed by “unusually weak forces”, including border guards and a border guard regiment created last year, which had no armored vehicles.

The portal reported that as of Wednesday evening, the Ukrainian side had captured the Sudja checkpoint on the border of Sumy and Kursk regions, and dozens of Russian border guards were captured; a gas measuring station near Sudja was also captured, which is part of the main gas pipeline infrastructure that delivers Russian gas to Europe through Ukrainian territory. This information has not been confirmed by official Russian or Ukrainian sources.

Meduza claims that the main Ukrainian forces advanced towards Rilsk and captured two nearby villages: Leonidowo and Zielienyj Szlakh. The portal writes: “Russian ‘war correspondents’ report that units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have arrived in the suburb of Korenev, but this has not yet been confirmed.” The Armed Forces have not yet entered (or perhaps they did not even try) Sudja itself, although they are approaching at least from the west and perhaps also from the south. Ukrainian shelling is said to have severely damaged the apartment building.

Also read: Russians talk about “armed provocations”, but Kiev remains silent. What is happening in Kursk Oblast?

Officially, Kiev has not yet commented on Russian reports about fighting in the Kursk region. These reports were reported by Ukrainian bloggers and military analysts. Well-known expert and journalist Yuri Butusov reported that Ukrainians may have captured several Russian soldiers in the fighting. However, he noted that there is no official information on this matter yet.

The Ukrainian portal NV wrote that Kiev’s military intelligence department refused to comment on the “breakthrough” of the Ukrainian army in the Kursk region. The department’s interlocutor only revealed that “members of the Russian Volunteer Army are part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and of course did not participate in these activities.”