Russia: Ukrainian forces have re-entered its Kursk region

2024-08-07 17:02:33, Kosova & Bota CNA

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kiev on Wednesday of launching rocket attacks on civilian and residential buildings in the Russian border region of Kursk after reports by Russian pro-war bloggers that a number of Russian villages have been overrun by Ukrainian forces.

Speaking during a government meeting on August 7, Putin called the military operation a "big provocation".

Earlier in the day, the acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said two people were killed by a Ukrainian drone strike near the town of Sudzha, a day after Moscow accused Ukraine of attacking Russian positions with hundreds of soldiers. in the border region.

"The Kiev regime has made another provocation on a large scale and has indiscriminately shelled civilian buildings, residential houses and ambulances with various weapons," Putin said.

Putin's claim was impossible to verify.

Smirnov said on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone struck a moving ambulance, killing two people in Sudzha, a town just 10 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

Kiev has not commented on Smirnov's claim, which could not be independently verified.

A day earlier, Russia's Defense Ministry said 300 troops backed by 11 tanks and more than 20 armored vehicles crossed the border into the Kursk region, attacking Russian positions near the settlements of Nikolayevo-Karino and Oleshnya.

Ukraine has not commented on this claim. Moscow said its forces repulsed the offensive using artillery fire, warplanes and drones, and that Ukrainian forces withdrew after suffering losses.

However, on August 7, pro-Russian bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces captured Nikolayevo-Darino and Sverdlikovo, in the Sudzha district.

They said that Ukrainian troops entered Sudzha a day ago and are trying to take control of the villages of Goncharovka and Oleshna.

Kiev has not yet commented on these reports, which could not be independently verified.

Meanwhile, Ukraine reported that its air defenses shot down all 30 drones launched by Russia in the direction of seven of its regions.

All Russian drones "were shot down over Kiev, Khmelnytskyi, Vinitsia, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Kharkiv and Cherkasy," Air Force Commander General Mykola Oleschuk said.

In Kiev, dozens of residential houses and agricultural facilities were damaged by the downed drones, the head of the military administration of the Kiev region, Ruslan Kravchenko, said on August 7, adding that the attack on the capital lasted for more than eight hours./ REL