Russia: 1000 Ukrainian soldiers invaded – dead and injured

Up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers are said to have entered the Russian border area in the Kursk region. This was stated by Moscow’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov. At least 100 of them have now been killed and 215 injured, Gerasimov said in a video call with Russian President Vladimir Putin broadcast by the Kremlin on the Telegram news channel. The Kremlin chief was informed about the situation in the Kursk region, which was attacked from neighboring Ukraine. There was no information about losses on the Russian side.

The Ukrainian advance has been stopped, said Gerasimov. “The operation will end with the defeat of the enemy and the return to the state border,” he announced. The Defense Ministry in Moscow had claimed on Tuesday that there had been no breakthrough from the Ukrainian side. Now the military has admitted that units had penetrated Russian territory.

Due to the Ukrainian advance, the Russian National Guard has increased protection of the Kursk nuclear power plant. In addition, additional forces have been deployed to combat sabotage and reconnaissance troops in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, the authority said. This is being done in cooperation with the Russian border troops and the army. The nuclear power plant, with four blocks and an output of almost two gigawatts, is located just over 60 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Dead and injured in Russia’s border region

Russian military bloggers said that the advance was continuing and that eleven towns were under enemy control. This was neither officially confirmed nor independently verifiable. According to official information, at least 3 people were killed and more than 20 injured in the fighting that has been going on since Tuesday.

According to Russian authorities, thousands of people fled the towns that were bombarded. There was initially no official statement from Kiev. In its fight against the Russian war of aggression, Ukraine has repeatedly attacked targets in the neighboring country. According to Kiev, the attacks were usually intended to disrupt military supplies from Russia. The attacked country had repeatedly stressed that it was concentrating on liberating occupied territories, but not attacking Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kiev of a “large-scale provocation”. Ukraine is firing “indiscriminately, with weapons of various types, at civilian buildings, residential buildings and ambulances”, he said at a televised meeting with government members. He also said he wanted to consult with the heads of his security services about a response.

The Russian region of Kursk borders directly on the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine and has been regularly shelled from Ukraine since the conflict began in February 2022.

Evacuations in Ukraine

Meanwhile, Ukraine also ordered the evacuation of 6,000 people from the border area with Kursk. “I have just signed the order for the forced evacuation of 23 settlements in five communities in the Sumy region,” said regional governor Volodymyr Artyuk. 425 children are also affected by the evacuation. The situation in the Sumy region is “very tense.”

Kiev did not initially comment on the current events in the border region. However, the news agency AFP learned from sources in the Ukrainian secret service SBU that a helicopter was shot down by a drone over the Kursk region on Tuesday.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak also alluded to the attacks in an online media post – but without explicitly naming them. Moscow had used its “border regions with impunity for massive air and artillery attacks,” he wrote.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, losses on the Ukrainian side included 260 soldiers and 50 armored vehicles, including seven tanks and eight armored personnel carriers. The information could not be independently verified.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities also attacked the Russian border regions of Voronezh and Belgorod with drones. In Voronezh, according to Governor Alexander Gusev, buildings and apartments were damaged by debris.

Note: This article has been updated with additional information.