Russia has accused Ukrainian troops of crossing the border into the Kursk region, which, if confirmed, would mark the first such incursion from Ukraine and put pressure on Moscow in an area largely unaffected by the two-year war.
The Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian Investigative Committee and the Russian Ombudsman for Children said Ukrainian forces launched a “massive attack” on Tuesday, trying to break through Russian defenses on the borders of the Kursk region, which is north of Sumy region in Ukraine.
Russian president Vladimir Putin classified the alleged incursion as a “large-scale provocation,” saying Kiev conducted “indiscriminate firing of various types of weapons, including missiles, against civilian buildings, residential buildings and ambulances.”
Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the allegations and CNN cannot independently verify them.
The extent of the attack, including whether Ukrainian troops seized any settlements or caused damage to any strategic targets, remains unclear. It is also unclear whether any Ukrainian soldiers remained on Russian territory.
Russian officials and military bloggers said Ukrainian forces attacked by land and air to enter Russia near the town of Sudzha, a town of 5,000 that lies about 10 kilometers from the border.
Geolocated video shows extensive destruction at the border crossing southeast of Sudzha, as well as shelling damage in the city itself. Another geolocated video shows Ukrainian forces approaching the city, although it is unclear whether they have entered or control it.
The Russian Defense Ministry said around 300 soldiers, supported by tanks and armored personnel carriers, attacked Russian positions near the villages of Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya.
Initially, the ministry said the attack was repelled, but that statement was later corrected to say that “the enemy is being inflicted with fire damage.”
Later on Wednesday, the state news agency RIA Novosti quoted the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, as telling Putin that “the advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces deep into Russian territory has been stopped.”
Aleksey Smirnov, acting head of the Kursk region, said on Wednesday that several thousand people had left the area in the past 24 hours.
It is unclear why Ukrainian forces would launch an attack on the scale described by Russian officials.
Ukrainian troops find themselves under increasing pressure along the 600-mile front line as Moscow continues its slow and oppressive offensive, so it could be an attempt to divert Russian resources elsewhere. Given the spate of more negative developments on the front line, news of a successful incursion helps Kiev boost the morale of its troops and civilian population.
A Russian military blogger Rybar reported that the Ukrainian military has established control over a gas transit station near the border. The blogger said that the station is the only one through which gas from Russia flows to Ukraine and then to Europe. CNN cannot confirm this report.
The European Union has imposed sweeping economic sanctions on Russia – with the exception of key natural gas imports. The EU was dependent on Russian gas, and although it has reduced imports from Russia from 45% of all gas imports in 2021 to 15% of EU gas imports in 2023, some Russian gas still continues to flow to Europe through Ukraine despite the war.
If confirmed, the attack would represent a major development in the conflict – even if its immediate impact is limited.
Although there have been reports of pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups crossing into Russia, none have caused significant damage. The Ukrainian military has regularly attacked targets inside Russia with drones and missiles, but Kiev has not launched any official ground incursions across the border in the two and a half years since the full-scale war began.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitoring group, said it had geolocated images published on August 6 that showed damaged and abandoned armored vehicles about 7 kilometers north of the border, but said it could not Confirm. if they were Russians, Ukrainians or both.
Meanwhile, Russian forces are slowly advancing towards the strategically important city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, threatening a vital Ukrainian supply line. At the same time, Russian forces claim to have taken the village of Niu York and are approaching Toretsk.
CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh, Paul Murphy and Tim Lister contributed reporting.
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