Hundreds of Ukrainian troops invaded western Russia on Tuesday in what is believed to be the embattled country’s biggest assault against its aggressor neighbour since war began more than two years ago.
According to the Russian military, Ukrainian forces, consisting of about 300 soldiers, 11 tanks and 20 armored vehicles, stormed into the Kursk region and appeared to have occupied several settlements around the village of Suzha, about eight miles from the border. According to ABC News:.
Troops also entered Suzha, home to a vital pipeline that supplies gas to other parts of Europe, according to Russian military blogs and online videos.
The mini-invasion prompted mass evacuations during a second day of heavy fighting and prompted Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to hold hastily scheduled talks with government and defence leaders on Wednesday, the network said.
Putin denounced the attack as a “major provocation” and described it as “indiscriminate shelling of civilian buildings, homes and ambulances with various types of weapons.”
The Russian Defense Ministry initially said it had repelled the attack, and Russian Chief of Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov told Putin on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had suffered hundreds of casualties during the fighting.
But it quickly became clear that Russia had not achieved the glorious victory it claimed, and that Ukrainian forces had advanced on at least 11 settlements since Tuesday, according to Leiber, a prominent military blog said to be close to the Defense Ministry.
Authorities in Kursk said the shelling killed at least two people and wounded around 20.
Civilian videos posted online showed chaotic scenes along the border, including one showing dozens of Russian soldiers being held captive on the outskirts of Suzha, ABC said.
The attack sparked uproar in Russian propaganda outlets, with acting governor Alexei Smirnov saying in a Telegram message that “over the past 24 hours our region has been bravely resisting attacks by Ukrainians.”
The Defense Ministry also claimed that Russian forces “continue to destroy Ukrainian military units in areas along the border in the Kursk region.”
Ukraine has carried out similar – but smaller – raids before with help from Russian rebel groups that hate the Kremlin, but Tuesday’s incursion was the first time that Ukrainian forces have carried out such a large-scale invasion, ABC reported.
Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, have not spoken about the latest attack, nor have they acknowledged Ukrainian involvement in previous cross-border incursions.
Analysts say the smaller attacks could be Ukraine’s way of relieving pressure on combat zones like the Donbas region by allowing Russian troops to redeploy to counter the threat.
Some have suggested it could be an attempt to pre-empt a possible Russian offensive into Ukraine’s neighbouring regions, or to seize Russian territory to use as bargaining chip in peace talks, according to ABC.
Some Russian military bloggers have suggested Ukraine may be targeting the Kursk nuclear power plant, located about 35 miles from the border.
But it is unlikely Ukraine can achieve this with such limited military resources.
With post wire
