The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops had thwarted an attempt by Kiev’s forces to expand a week-long incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, and a Ukrainian foreign ministry official said Kiev had no intention of seizing Russian territory in a large-scale operation.
According to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian army units, new reserve forces, military aircraft, drone teams and artillery units prevented Ukrainian armored forces from advancing deeper into Russia near the Kursk settlements of Obshchi-Kolodez, Snagost, Kavchuk and Alekseevsky.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhyy Tykhy said the cross-border operation was aimed at protecting Ukrainian territory from long-range attacks from the Kursk.
A Russian rocket launcher fired rockets at Ukrainian positions from an undisclosed location (Russian Defense Ministry/AP)
“Ukraine is not interested in seizing territory in the Kursk region, but we want to protect the lives of our people,” Tikhy told local media.
He said Russia had carried out more than 2,000 attacks from the Kursk region in recent months using anti-aircraft missiles, artillery barrels, mortars, drones, 255 glide bombs and more than 100 missiles.
“The goal of this operation is to protect children’s lives and defend Ukrainian territory from Russian aggression,” he said.
Ukraine’s Western allies say it has the right to defend itself, including by launching attacks across its border.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday he supported Ukraine’s operation but added that authorities in Kiev had not consulted him about it in advance.
“What the Russian Armed Forces and Air Force are carrying out on Ukrainian soil bears the characteristics of genocide and crimes against humanity, and Ukraine has the right to wage war in such a way as to paralyze Russia’s aggressive intentions as effectively as possible,” he said.
People fleeing fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region arrive at a temporary residential center in Moscow (Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations Press Service/AP)
The Kremlin military is stepping up its offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Tuesday that Russian forces had launched 52 attacks in the past 24 hours in the Pokrovsk district, a town near the front line in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, nearly double the number of attacks in a single day a week ago.
Ukrainian forces are undermanned and struggling to hold off larger, better-equipped Russian forces in Donetsk.
The Ukrainian military claims that its invasion of Russian territory, which began on August 6, has already seized about 386 square miles of Russian territory.
The purpose of the rapid advance into the Kursk region was a closely guarded military secret.
Analysts say another factor may have been Ukraine’s desire to ease pressure on the front line by drawing Kremlin forces into the defense of Kursk and other border areas.
Members of the Marines’ shock force ride on motorbikes towards Ukrainian military positions in an undisclosed location (Russian Ministry of Defence/PA)
If this is the case, the growing pressure around Pokrovsk indicates that Moscow has not taken the bait.
Ukraine’s ambitious operation marks the biggest attack on Russia since World War II and has rattled the Kremlin.
This prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to convene a meeting of top defense officials on Monday.
Ukraine has reportedly massed thousands of troops on the border in recent weeks – some Western analysts estimate it to be between 10,000 and 12,000 – without Russia realising or taking any action.
Russian officials say about 121,000 people have been evacuated from Kursk or fled the fighting-affected areas on their own.
Russian state television showed residents of evacuated areas queuing inside buildings and on the streets to receive food and water.
Volunteers distributed bags of relief supplies, while staff from the country’s Ministry of Emergency Situations were filmed helping people, including children and elderly, off buses.
“There’s no light, no electricity, no water. There’s nothing. It’s as if everyone has flown to another planet and I’m the only one left behind. Even the birds have stopped singing,” an elderly man named Mikhail told Russian state television.
“Helicopters and planes were flying over the yard and shells were flying. What could we do? We left everything behind.”
According to Putin, Ukraine’s bold move into Russia was motivated by an attempt to stoke insecurity, but the attempt will fail.