News of fighting in the Kursk region. What is known

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that about 300 Ukrainian soldiers from the 22nd Mechanized Brigade had tried to enter the Kursk region. Ukrainian forces were due to launch the attack on Tuesday morning, backed by 11 tanks and 20 armored combat vehicles.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukrainians attacked positions of Russian border guard units in the area of ​​a village adjacent to the border with Ukraine (in the Sumy region).

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) also reported the incident. “An armed provocation took place on the border in the Kursk region, but the Russian border guards and military repelled the attack,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said on Tuesday evening that the situation on the border “remains tense.” The official said in a post on his Telegram channel that three people were killed and 13 wounded as a result of shelling by Ukrainian forces.

On Wednesday morning, the Rebar Telegram channel, which is close to the Russian Defense Ministry, reported that Ukrainian forces had captured three villages in the Kursk region. According to these reports, Ukrainian soldiers were supposed to occupy the towns of Nikolayev-Dargino, Dargino and Sverdlykovo. Rebar reported that fighting is currently ongoing in Goncharivka and Oleszna.

Rebar said that up to 400 Ukrainian soldiers have entered the territory of the Kursk region, and there are about 2,000 soldiers near the border, estimating that “the events in the Kursk region prove that the Ukrainian operation has been prepared for a long time and – judging by the number of soldiers near the border – it may take at least a few more days.”

According to the Russian channels Arkhangel Spetsnaz and Dua Magura, Ukrainian troops are advancing towards the city of Soja, whose residents were supposed to be evacuated. The goal of the Kiev authorities – as they decided – may be, among other things: the destruction of the gas metering station in Soja.

Officially, Kiev has not yet commented on Russian reports of fighting in the Kursk region. They were reported by Ukrainian bloggers and military analysts. Well-known expert and journalist Yuriy Butusov reported that Ukrainians may have captured several Russian soldiers during the fighting. But he noted that there is no official information about this.

The Ukrainian portal NV wrote that the military intelligence in Kiev refused to comment on the “breakthrough” of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region. The service’s interlocutor only revealed that “members of the Russian Volunteer Corps, a formation that is part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, were definitely not involved in these activities.”

The BBC’s Ukrainian service asked the General Staff in Kiev for comment, and received a response that staff had “no information”.

The Sumy region administration announced on Tuesday evening that a Russian Ka-52 helicopter was shot down over its region. Earlier, Russian Telegram channels claimed that the helicopter was shot down over the Kursk region.

When writing about the situation on the border between Russia and Ukraine, Reuters refers to statements by the Russian Defense Ministry and the authorities of the Kursk Oblast.

“Ukraine has not provided any official comment, despite evidence of military action on its side of the border (in the Sumy region – ed.),” the agency said, adding that it “could not verify reports of combat from either side.”

Reuters added that Kiev and Moscow say that their attacks do not target civilians. In the case of Russia, this is not true, as evidenced by the numerous attacks by Russian forces on residential complexes, hospitals and other public infrastructure, as well as evidence of crimes committed in Russian-occupied areas.