Border clashes broke out overnight along several parts of the Russia-Ukraine border, Russian and Ukrainian sources reported Tuesday morning, in the latest spillover of more than two years of war in Ukraine across the border with Russia.
Russian troops “prevented a border breakthrough” after Ukraine launched attacks on the Kursk region, acting regional governor Alexei Smirnov said in a statement on Tuesday.
Areas around the town of Sudja, where five people were injured, and the district surrounding the town of Korenevo were targeted, Smirnov said, adding that 26 drones had already been shot down over Kursk overnight. The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 13 drones over Kursk early Tuesday.
“Against the backdrop of massive enemy strikes by aircraft-type drones, four enemy tanks approached the border” of the Kursk region this morning, a leading Russian military blogger reported on Tuesday. “The enemy is using infantry vehicles and armored vehicles,” the blogger said in a separate statement.
Administration of the Kursk region in Russia via AP
kyiv launched an attack on “several sections” of the border, the account said, adding: “Artillery duels are underway.”
Another Russian military blogger described “fierce fighting” on the border at Kursk and Belgorod, another border region southeast of Kursk.
Russian military bloggers are often cited as sources of information on Moscow’s war in Ukraine and are generally close to the Kremlin. Russian independent media outlet Astra and Ukrainian media also reported border clashes on Tuesday.
Newsweek contacted the Ukrainian military by email for comment.
Russia’s border regions, including Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk, which overlook northeastern Ukraine, have regularly suffered the effects of Moscow’s large-scale invasion. These regions have regularly been the victims of cross-border shelling and Ukrainian drone attacks.
Earlier this year, anti-Kremlin Russian organizations based in Ukraine said they had launched an incursion into Belgorod and Kursk from Ukrainian territory. Moscow blamed the outbreak of violence on Ukrainian “terrorist formations.” Kiev said at the time that these organizations, including the Freedom Legion for Russia, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Siberian Battalion, were not official Ukrainian organizations but that Ukraine would “try to help them as much as possible.”
At the time of writing, the Freedom Legion for Russia, the Russian Volunteer Corps, and the Siberian Battalion had not released any updates referring to a cross-border attack on Russia on Tuesday.
Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that Ukraine had bombed and launched drones on a number of settlements in the region over the past 24 hours, including the village of Yasnye Zori.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down nine Ukrainian drones over Belgorod on Tuesday morning.
