Ukraine continues raids in Russia | News, Sports, Jobs

This photo published on the Telegram Channel on Tuesday by the acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, shows a damaged house after shelling by the Ukrainian side in the city of Sudzha, Kursk region, which borders Ukraine. Russian officials said Wednesday they were fighting Ukrainian cross-border raids in a southwestern border province for a second day, while officials in Kiev remained tight-lipped about the scale of the operation. The Associated Press

KIEV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday described a Ukrainian incursion into the country’s southwestern Kursk region as a “large-scale provocation” as his officials said they were fighting cross-border raids for the next day. Ukrainian officials remained silent on the scope of the operation.

Putin met with his top defense and security officials to discuss what he called the “indiscriminate bombing of civilian buildings, residential houses, ambulances with various types of weapons.” He instructed the Cabinet to coordinate assistance to the Kursk region. The fight is about 320 miles from Moscow.

Army Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov told Putin at the meeting via video link that about 100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the battle and more than 200 wounded, Russian news agencies reported.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian shelling killed at least two people — a paramedic and an ambulance driver — and wounded 24, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

It was not possible to independently verify the Russian claims. Disinformation and propaganda played a central role in the war, now in its third year. John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman, declined to comment on the operation and said the Biden administration had reached out to the Ukrainians to better understand what happened.

The head of the region urged residents to donate blood because of the intense fighting. “For the past 24 hours, our region has heroically resisted attacks” by Ukrainian fighters, Acting Governor Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram, adding that all emergency services were on high alert.

Smirnov said authorities evacuated more than 200 people from bombed areas, while several thousand others left in their own vehicles. If confirmed, the cross-border incursion would be among the largest in Ukraine since the large-scale invasion of Russia in February 2022 and unprecedented for the deployment of Ukrainian military units.

Kiev’s aim may be to draw Russian reserves into the area, potentially weakening Moscow’s offensive operations in several parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where Russian forces have stepped up attacks and are gradually advancing towards significant operational gains.

But it could risk stretching Ukrainian troops further along the front line, which is more than 620 miles long.

Even if Russia committed reserves to stabilize the new front, given its large manpower and the relatively small number of Ukrainian forces engaged in the operation, it would likely have little long-term impact.

However, the operation could boost Ukrainian morale at a time when forces in Kiev face relentless Russian attacks and are expected to face more in the coming weeks.

Several Ukrainian brigades stationed along the border region said they could not comment. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and General Staff said they would not comment.

Russian forces quickly repelled previous cross-border incursions, but not before causing damage and embarrassing authorities.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that up to 300 Ukrainian soldiers, backed by 11 tanks and more than 20 armored fighting vehicles, had crossed into Russia and suffered heavy casualties.

It said on Wednesday that military and border guard troops “continued to destroy Ukrainian military units in areas near the border in the Kursk region.”

The ministry said Russian forces supported by artillery and warplanes “did not allow the enemy to advance deeper into the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Open-source monitors also could not verify the claims. The US Institute for the Study of War could not verify whether the damaged and abandoned armored vehicles shown in geolocated videos 7 kilometers (4 miles) north of the border west of Lyubimovka in the Kursk region were Ukrainian.

The think tank also questioned the video shared by Russian military bloggers claiming to show the aftermath of the Ukrainian raids. Most of the damage shown “appears to be the result of routine Ukrainian bombing and does not indicate that there was any ground activity in the area,” it said in its daily report.

Responsibility for previous incursions into Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions has been claimed by two troubled groups: the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Russian Freedom Legion, which are made up of Russian citizens and have fought alongside Ukrainian forces.

Some Russian war bloggers who proved knowledgeable about the war said that Ukrainian soldiers were in Kursk.

Rybar, a Telegram channel run by Mikhail Zvinchuk, a retired Russian Defense Ministry press officer, said Ukrainian troops had captured three settlements in the region and were continuing to fight deeper. about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the border. Russian officials have not confirmed the winnings.

Another pro-Kremlin military blog, Two Majors, claimed that Ukrainian troops had advanced up to 15 kilometers (9 miles) into the region.

Neither claim could be independently verified.

The Kursk region’s border with Ukraine is 245 kilometers (150 miles) long, making it possible for saboteur groups to launch quick incursions and seize territory before Russia deploys reinforcements.