Russia says its troops stopped a stunning week-long incursion by Ukrainian troops into the Kursk region, while a Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman said Kiev had no intention of occupying Russian territory.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that Russian army units, including new reserves, aircraft, drone teams and artillery units, prevented Ukrainian armored mobile units from penetrating deep into Russia's Obuchi Kolodz, Snagost, Near the Kursk settlements such as Kauchuk and Alexeyevsky.
At the same time, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said that the purpose of this cross-border operation was to protect Ukrainian soil from long-range strikes launched by Kursk.
“Ukraine has no intention of seizing the territory of the Kursk region, but we want to protect the lives of our people,” Tikhey was quoted as saying by local media.
He said that in recent months, Russia has launched more than 2,000 attacks from the Kursk region using anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, mortars, drones, 255 glide bombs and more than 100 missiles.
“The purpose of this operation is to protect the lives of our children and protect Ukrainian territory from Russian attacks,” he said.
Ukraine currently controls the Kursk region, Ukrainian military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a video posted to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Telegram channel on Tuesday. 74 settlements.
Ukrainian forces continued to advance, taking control of 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) of territory in the past 24 hours, Silsky said.
“Fighting continues across the entire front line. Although the fighting is fierce, the situation is under control.
Ukraine's Western partners say the country has the right to defend itself, including by launching attacks across its borders. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday he supported Ukraine's action, although he said Kiev officials had not consulted him about it beforehand.
Tusk said that Russia's military operations in Ukraine have “the characteristics of genocide and inhumane crimes, and Ukraine has every right to launch a war to paralyze Russia's aggressive intentions as effectively as possible.”
Kremlin forces have stepped up attacks in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine's General Staff said on Tuesday that Russian troops launched 52 attacks in the past 24 hours in the Pokrovsk region, a town close to the front line in Ukraine's Donetsk region. This is roughly double the number of daily attacks a week ago.
Ukraine's undermanned army has struggled to hold off larger and better-equipped Russian forces in Donetsk.
The Ukrainian military claims that the attack on Russian territory, which began on August 6, has covered approximately 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russian territory. The goal of a rapid advance into the Kursk region has been a closely guarded military secret.
Analysts said Ukraine's desire to ease frontline pressure by attracting Kremlin troops to defend Kursk and other border areas could also be a catalyst. If so, the growing pressure around Pokrovsk suggests Moscow is not taking the bait.
Ukraine's ambitious operation – the largest attack on Russia since World War II – has unnerved the Kremlin. That forced Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold a meeting with senior defense officials on Monday.
Apparently, Ukraine has massed thousands of troops on the border in recent weeks—some Western analysts estimate as many as 12,000—without Russia noticing or taking action.
Russian officials said about 121,000 people had evacuated Kursk or fled areas affected by the fighting on their own. The Institute for War Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said geolocation footage it had seen showed Ukrainian troops advancing 24 kilometers (15 miles) toward the border.
The Russian Defense Ministry appeared to back up that claim, saying on Tuesday it had also prevented an attack by Ukrainian 82nd Air Assault Brigade troops on Malinka, which is about that distance from Ukraine.
Russian state television on Tuesday showed residents in evacuated areas queuing in buildings and streets to receive food and water. Volunteers were pictured handing out bags of aid while officials from the country's emergencies ministry helped people, including children and the elderly, out of their cars.
“No light, no connection, no water. Nothing. It's like everyone flew to another planet and you were alone. The birds stopped singing,” an old man named Mikhail told Russia national television. “Helicopters and planes flew over the compound, shells were flying. What could we do? We left everything behind.” Putin said Ukraine's bold intervention in Russia was motivated by fomenting unrest, but he said the effort would fail.
The successful border breach was also surprising because Ukraine has been short of manpower on the front lines while it waits for new brigades to complete training.
Carnegie Endowment analyst Dara Massikot said Ukraine's breakthrough was a smart move because it exploited the gaps between Russia's various commands in Kursk: border guards, defense ministry forces and those in Chechen troops who have been fighting on Russia's side during the war.
Massicot said late Monday that Russian command and control in Kursk had broken down.
Ukraine's Army General Staff announced on Tuesday that it would establish a 20-kilometer (12-mile) restricted access zone along the Russia-Ukraine border in the northeast of the Sumy region bordering Kursk.
A statement said the measures were taken due to intensifying fighting in the region and the increasing presence of Russian reconnaissance and sabotage forces.
(This report has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from Yonhap News Agency-Associated Press)
