dpa
Moscow/Kiev
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Kiev of a “provocation” as the Defence Ministry in Moscow said fighting is ongoing in the Russian border region of Kursk, with civilians fleeing a reported Ukrainian incursion.
According to the state-run Russian news agency TASS, Putin said Ukraine had “staged another massive provocation, conducting indiscriminate fire from various types of weapons, including missile launchers, at civilian buildings.”
The Defence Ministry earlier said Russian troops are continuing to respond to the incursion, one day after it claimed to have repelled a Ukrainian offensive on the Ukrainian-Russian border.
“The operation to destroy the groups of the Ukrainian armed forces is continuing,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that at least 260 Ukrainian soldiers and 50 units of equipment had been lost in the fighting, including seven tanks.
Putin said he would receive further reports on the military situation at a meeting with the Defence Ministry, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and Russia’s domestic Federal Security Service (FSB).
In response to the offensive, the Investigative Committee in Moscow, Russia’s top prosecuting authority, has opened criminal proceedings for what it described as a terrorist attack on Russian territory.
According to Russian authorities, thousands of civilians have fled border villages caught up in the fighting since Tuesday, with at least three killed and more than 20 injured.
Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of Kursk, called on residents to get to safety and for citizens to donate blood. At least six children are said to be among the injured.
While Moscow claimed the situation was under control, a number of Russian military bloggers said the advance represented a major offensive by Ukrainian forces.
Unverifiable reports suggest Ukrainian units are moving towards the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region, where there have been calls for an evacuation of civilians.
One blogger, Alexander Sladkov, reported that Ukrainian forces had advanced 10km into Russian territory.
Various bloggers estimated the Ukrainian forces at between 900 and 2,000 men. Military observers say Russian troops are only weakly deployed in the border region.
Ukraine has not provided official confirmation of the offensive. Kiev has repeatedly attacked targets in Russia since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In light of heavy fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, Ukrainian authorities have ordered the evacuation of additional locations in its neighbouring Sumy region.
The measures affect 23 settlements, the military governor of Sumy, Volodymyr Artyukh, said on Ukrainian television. About 6,000 people, including more than 400 children and adolescents, are to be brought to safety from the border area, he said.
Ukrainian troops on Tuesday launched an advance across the Ukrainian-Russian border towards the city of Sudzha in the Kursk region, moving several kilometres into Russian territory. Moscow claimed that around 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers equipped with heavy machinery were involved. Kiev has not yet commented on the events.
