Russia reports that fighting is continuing for a second day in the country’s Kursk border region following an incursion by Ukrainian forces.
The Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday that its troops had prevented the pro-Kyiv forces from advancing deep into the country, while reporting it repelled aerial attacks overnight. Ukraine has not confirmed the assault on the southwestern Russian region, which sits on the border between the pair.
“Air strikes, missile forces, artillery fire and active actions of units covering the state border … in the Kursk direction prevented the enemy from advancing deep into the territory of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said.
It added that, with the fighting continuing, 50 Ukrainian armoured vehicles, including seven tanks, eight armoured personnel carriers, three infantry fighting vehicles and 31 armoured combat vehicles, had been destroyed.
Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, said on Wednesday there were reports suggesting that the Ukrainians had occupied several settlements in the Kursk region.
Russian officials earlier claimed to have shot down several missiles and drones targeting Kursk overnight.
“Two Ukrainian missiles were shot down by air defence systems,” acting regional governor Alexei Smirnov wrote on Telegram. The defence ministry reported that four Ukrainian drones were downed overnight.
On Tuesday, the ministry had said it had rushed reserve troops and aviation units to the border as Ukrainian units had raided. The incursion was carried out by about 300 soldiers, 11 tanks and more than 20 armoured vehicles, Moscow said.
Pro-Kyiv forces, including units of Russians fighting on Ukraine’s side, such as the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion, have made several brief incursions into Russia since Moscow invaded its neighbour in February 2022.
On Wednesday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Ukraine’s latest attack on Kursk “another terrorist act” against civilians.
“It is obviously directed against a peaceful population, against a civilian population,” she said.
New front
Five people were killed on Tuesday and about 28 wounded, Smirnov and local health authorities said. The Russian health ministry said on Wednesday that six children were among the injured.
A senior Orthodox clergyman said Ukrainian shelling had set ablaze a cathedral and other buildings within a large monastery outside the border town of Sudzha, but no one was hurt.
Sudzha is the last operational transshipping point for Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine. Just 60km (37 miles) away to the northeast is Russia’s Kursk nuclear power station.
Ukrainian military authorities in the Sumy region, on the other side of the border from Kursk, said their forces had destroyed a Russian ballistic missile, two drones and a helicopter. Unofficial Ukrainian military blogs showed pictures claimed to be of the helicopter and other items.
Ukrainian drones also targeted residential buildings in the Russian border regions of Voronezh and Belgorod, with damage but no casualties reported, local officials said on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s general staff on Tuesday reported Russian strikes on border villages but made no mention of any Ukrainian offensive operation inside Russia. Both Kyiv and Moscow say their attacks do not target civilians.
Smirnov called on social media for residents in Kursk to help stock up blood banks.
“In the last 24 hours, our region has been heroically resisting attacks” by Ukrainian fighters, he wrote.
Russian military bloggers reported intense battles with some suggesting that Ukraine had opened a new front.
“The fighting will be fierce,” said Yuri Podolyaka, an influential Ukrainian-born pro-Russian military blogger. “It’s definitely not going to end quickly.
“Even if the enemy fails to break through [and no one will give guarantees for now], there will be artillery attacks and drone attacks. And in large numbers,” he said.