Russian region of Kursk targeted by strikes again after Ukrainian incursion

Several incursions by Ukrainian armed fighters into Russia have taken place since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Missile and drone attacks have again targeted Russia. “Two Ukrainian missiles were shot down by air defense systems in the Kursk region,” wrote Alexei Smirnov, the acting regional governor, on Wednesday, August 7, on Telegram. According to him, three Ukrainian drones were also shot down in the morning in this region bordering Ukraine.

The day before, the Kursk region had been the scene of an armed intrusion by Ukrainian forces comprising some 300 soldiers, 11 tanks and about 20 other armoured vehicles, according to the Russian Defence Ministry. The ministry claimed to have destroyed 16 vehicles. A total of five people were killed on Tuesday in strikes targeting the same region, according to the authorities. According to the official Tass agency, 28 civilians were injured.

In this context, Alexei Smirnov called on residents to donate blood to replenish the reserves of local medical institutions. “due to the situation in the border districts.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region as “a new attack which clearly targets the civilian population”.

Ukrainian drone attacks also targeted residential buildings in two other Russian regions bordering Ukraine, Voronezh and Belgorod, according to their respective authorities.

“Two drones attacked a building” in Chebekino, breaking windows in one apartment and starting a fire in another, the governor of the Belgorod region wrote on Telegram, according to which “no one was hurt”.

In Voronezh, the capital of the eponymous region, debris from two drones shot down by anti-aircraft defenses damaged the facade of a building and broke the windows of several apartments in another.

There have been several incursions by armed militants into Russia since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russian forces have each time claimed to have repelled these incursions, but some of them have forced Moscow to use its artillery and air force.