Ukraine Pierces Russian Border As Battle Rages

Russia said it was fighting intense battles against Ukrainian forces that had penetrated its southern border near a major natural gas transmission hub, in one of the largest incursions into Russian territory since the war began.

The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexey Smirnov, said he had introduced a state of emergency in the border region. Regional officials said that meant restricting access to specific areas.

Russia’s health ministry said 31 civilians, including six children, had been wounded. Smirnov said on Tuesday that five people had been killed.

No information on military casualties was available.

Russia’s National Guard said it had beefed up security around the nearby Kursk nuclear power station and its four reactors.

Russia has advanced this year after the failure of Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive to achieve major gains, and has taken 420 square km of territory from Ukrainian forces since June 14, Russian officials say.

Ukraine struck back on Tuesday, and battles continued through the night into Wednesday as Ukrainian forces pushed to the northwest of the border town of Sudzha, 530 km southwest of Moscow, Russia’s defence ministry said.

“The Kyiv regime has launched another major provocation,” President Vladimir Putin told members of the Russian government, referring to the attack in Kursk region.

The chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, told Putin that Russian forces had halted a thrust by up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers – more than three times the figure that Russia’s defence ministry had stated on Tuesday – and would push them back to the border.

The advance was stopped by “the actions of the units covering the state border together with border guards and reinforcement units, with airstrikes, missile and artillery fire,” Gerasimov said in televised comments.

The Ukrainian military appeared to have adopted a strategy of strict silence.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly video address on Wednesday, made no reference to the attack, while exhorting Kyiv’s soldiers to press on and weaken Russian forces.

Ukraine’s General Staff also made no acknowledgment in its daily battlefield update. In a late evening report, it said fighting had intensified in Sumy region — across the border from Russia’s Kursk region.

The General Staff said Russian forces had deployed aircraft, helicopters and heavy weapons in the area “but made no headway and suffered significant losses”.