Russia announced on Tuesday that it was fighting against an incursion by the Ukrainian army in the border region of Kursk, after several similar operations claimed in recent months by pro-kyiv fighters.
Three civilians were killed during the day by Ukrainian strikes in this Russian region, its interim governor, Alexei Smirnov, announced on Telegram.
“Today the enemy again tried to penetrate the territory of the Kursk region,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Tuesday evening.
“Artillery fire, strikes by military aircraft and attack drones are inflicting damage on the enemy,” he added, a formulation that suggested the incursion was still ongoing.
In an earlier message posted on Telegram at around 6:20 p.m. local time, the ministry claimed that Ukrainian forces were being pushed back from Russian soil, a claim that was removed in the latest statement.
Earlier, Russia also announced that it had sent reserve forces to counter the intrusion of Ukrainian forces, which it said numbered some 300 soldiers, 11 tanks and about 20 other armoured vehicles.
The Russian ministry also claimed to have destroyed 16 of these devices, publishing in particular a video presented as having been filmed during these clashes and showing from the sky supposedly Ukrainian devices hit by projectiles.
Asked by AFP, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army declined to comment on the situation at the border.
Russian forces “failed in their defense” of the Kursk region, said Andriy Kovalenko, an official of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, without giving further details.
Mr Smirnov also reported on Tuesday “massive shelling” and drone attacks by Ukraine targeting his region, saying three civilians had been killed and 13 others injured, including four children.
Not the first attempted incursion
Several incursions by armed militants into Russia have taken place since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
On several occasions, these have been claimed by the “Russian Freedom Legion” and the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, groups presenting themselves as being composed of pro-kyiv Russian fighters and classified as “terrorist organisations” by Moscow.
Their operations have increased pressure on Russian localities close to Ukraine, which are also regularly subjected to deadly bombardments in retaliation for Russian strikes on Ukrainian territory.
Russian forces have claimed to have repelled these incursions each time, but some of them have forced Moscow to use its artillery and air force.
In May, Vladimir Putin ordered an offensive against Ukraine’s border region of Kharkiv with the aim of creating a buffer zone to protect these border villages and larger Russian cities located near Ukrainian territory.
But this assault has not had the desired effect, with the Ukrainian army continuing to attack Russia almost daily in response to Russian bombings for more than two years.
Russian thrust
A Russian occupation official in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, Vladimir Saldo, also reported another Ukrainian attack on the Tendra Isthmus on the Black Sea.
According to him, Ukrainian troops tried to land on this narrow strip of land with 12 patrol boats supported by explosive drones.
“Three ships were destroyed with their crews and sunk, while the others retreated after suffering losses,” he said on Telegram.
For their part, authorities in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine said that Ukrainian forces had shot down a Russian helicopter.
On the front, Russia claimed on Tuesday the capture of a new village, that of Tymofiivka, located towards the town of Pokrovsk, a sector of the front where Russian forces have been gaining ground in recent weeks and where the situation is “difficult” according to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov visited positions controlled by his troops in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk (east), the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.