Site icon Ghanaian Times

Putin accuses Ukraine of ‘provocation’ amid alleged border incursion

President Vladi­mir Putin has accused Ukraine of launching “another major provocation”, after defence officials said Ukrainian troops crossed into Russia’s Kursk region on Tuesday.

Moscow said troops, sup­ported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armoured combat ve­hicles, crossed the border near the town of Sudzha, 10km (six miles) from the frontline.

In televised remarks broadcast on Wednesday afternoon, Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gera­simov told President Putin that the “advance” into Kursk region had been stopped with Russian forces “continuing to destroy the adversary in areas directly adjacent to the Rus­sian-Ukrainian border”.

Mr Gerasimov also said that up to 1,000 Ukrainian troops had entered the region with the aim of taking over the area around the town of Sudzha, and that Russian forces had already killed 100 men and injured another 215.

Ukraine has yet to comment on the Russian allegations.

Thousands of local resi­dents have left their homes in the region, officials said.

Speaking ahead of a meet­ing of the Security Council in Moscow, Mr Putin accused Ukrainian forces of “firing indiscriminately” at civilian buildings and residences.

Fighting reportedly took place in various villages on Russian territory throughout Tuesday. It was followed by Ukrainian air attacks which killed three civilians and con­tinued into the night, Russian authorities said.

Twenty-four people, includ­ing six children, have been wounded in Ukrainian shelling of the border region, Moscow said.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed it prevented the Ukrainian Armed Forces from advancing “deep into Russian territo­ry” in the Kursk region and said it had destroyed several Ukrainian drones overnight.

—BBC

Exit mobile version