Kremlin aide accuses west of involvement in Kursk operation
Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev said today Nato and the west were directly involved in the planning for Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Kursk region, Reuters reported.
The White House has said the US did not provide advance notice of its incursion and that the US was not involved.
“The operation in the Kursk region was also planned with the participation of Nato and Western special services,” Patrushev told the Izvestia newspaper.
Key events
Fears of water supply sabotage in Germany
Residents of Mechernich and surrounding towns in western Germany have been warned not to drink tap water, AFP reported.
The warning came after a hole was found in a fence around a water tank that also supplies a nearby military base.
Earlier this week, a base near Cologne airport was temporarily sealed off due to a suspected act of sabotage, after a hole was discovered in a fence near drinking water storage facilities.
A Russian parliamentary deputy, Mikhail Sheremet, said today that the Ukrainian incursion into Russia has brought the world close to an all-out global war, Reuters reported citing the RIA news agency.
“Considering the presence of Western military equipment, the use of Western ammunition and missiles in attacks on civilian infrastructure and irrefutable proof of foreigners’ participation in the attack on Russian territory, one could come to the conclusion that the world is on the brink of a third world war,” Sheremet said.
Shaun Walker
Ukraine’s president has claimed Kyiv’s troops have full control over the Russian town of Sudzha, which had a prewar population of 5,000 people and contains infrastructure pumping Russian gas towards Europe.
Sudzha, roughly six miles (9.6km) inside Russian territory, is the biggest of 80 settlements that Ukraine claims to have taken during the 10 days since its surprise incursion into Russia began.
“General Syrskyi reported on the completion of the liberation of the town of Sudzha from the Russian military. A Ukrainian military commandant’s office is being established there now,” said Volodymyr Zelenskiy, after receiving a briefing from the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, on Thursday.
The claim could not be independently verified, but a Ukrainian television channel broadcast a report from Sudzha on Wednesday suggesting the town was under Ukrainian control.
While some residents have remained, sheltering from the fighting in basements, most have been evacuated. “We hid in the bushes,” said one, Tatyana Anikeyeva, speaking to Russian television from a facility helping evacuees. “Volunteers were handing out water, food, bread to people on the go. The sound of the cannonade continued without any break. The house was shaking.”
Kremlin aide accuses west of involvement in Kursk operation
Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev said today Nato and the west were directly involved in the planning for Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Kursk region, Reuters reported.
The White House has said the US did not provide advance notice of its incursion and that the US was not involved.
“The operation in the Kursk region was also planned with the participation of Nato and Western special services,” Patrushev told the Izvestia newspaper.