The governor of Russia's Kursk region on the border with Ukraine said Wednesday that a state of emergency had been declared on the second day of what appears to be a major Ukrainian ground offensive that Russia says is backed by tanks, armored vehicles and artillery.
"In order to remove the consequences of the entry of enemy forces into the region, I have made a decision to introduce a state of emergency in the Kursk region from August 7," Governor Aleksey Smirnov said on Telegram.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously accused Kiev of firing rockets at civilian and residential targets in the region, while Russian pro-war bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces had captured several villages as they advanced into Russian territory, Radio Free Europe reported in English.
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Putin, speaking during the broadcast of the government session on August 7, said that the Ukrainian military operation is "another large-scale provocation."
The chief of the Russian army's general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, told Putin that Russian forces had stopped the advance of up to 1.000 Ukrainian soldiers.
"The advance of the enemy deep into the territory in the direction of Kursk was stopped by the actions of units covering the state border together with border guards and reinforcement units, airstrikes, rocket and artillery fire," said Gerasimov.
In a video released Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Ukrainian army, deploying troops along the front line in the Pokrovskoe, Torecko, Liman and Kharkiv regions "and everywhere where our protection against offensive operations of the occupiers continues."
Zelensky did not mention Kursk, but said it was important to continue destroying the enemy "precisely as our soldiers know and just as effectively because it gives results."
The greater the pressure on Russia, the closer peace will be, he said. "Only peace by righteous force. I thank everyone who ensures it."
Earlier in the day, the acting governor of Kursk Oblast said two people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack near the city of Suzh.
Smirnov said on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone hit a moving ambulance, killing the driver and a paramedic in Suja, a place ten kilometers from the border.
The claims of Putin and Smirnov could not be independently verified.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters it was up to Ukraine to answer questions about its operations, but added that "nothing has changed" regarding US policy prohibiting strikes inside Russia using US-supplied weapons. , except against "imminent threat only across the border".
He also said that American officials contacted their Ukrainian counterparts to better understand the situation.
Smirnov also called on residents to donate blood as the Russian Defense Ministry announced the previous day that up to 300 soldiers, supported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armored fighting vehicles, had crossed the border into the Kursk region and attacked Russian positions near the settlements of Nikolayevo-Darino and Oleshnja. .
Russia said Ukrainian forces had withdrawn after suffering casualties.
However, pro-Kremlin bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces captured Nikolayevo-Darino and Sverdlikovo in the Suja district.
The bloggers said that Ukrainian troops had entered Suja a day earlier and were trying to take control of the villages of Gončarovka and Olešnja.
Kyiv did not comment on these allegations, which also could not be independently confirmed.
Mandatory evacuation is being carried out in 23 settlements located within five communities in the north-eastern Ukrainian Sumy region.
About 6.000 people, including 425 children, have been ordered to evacuate, Governor Volodymyr Artyukh said on Ukrainian television.
Artjuh noted that the situation in the Suma region is quite tense and that the air alert has been going on for more than a day.
He added that many of the explosions that residents hear are "the work of our anti-aircraft defense", and that the Suma region has never been better covered by that defense.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 11 drones launched by Ukraine in four of its regions early Wednesday.
Ukraine reported that its air defenses shot down all 30 drones launched by Russia in seven of its regions.
In Kyiv, parts of downed drones hit a person who suffered a leg injury from shrapnel.
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