KYIV, Ukraine, Aug 8, (AP): Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday described a Ukrainian incursion into the country's southwestern Kursk region as a "large-scale provocation” as his officials asserted that they were fighting off cross-border raids for a second day. Ukrainian officials remained silent about the scope of the operation.
Putin met with his top defense and security officials to discuss what he called the "indiscriminate shelling of civilian buildings, residential houses, ambulances with different types of weapons.” He instructed the Cabinet to coordinate assistance to the Kursk region. The fighting is about 500 kilometers (320 miles) from Moscow.
Army chief of staff Valery Gerasimov told Putin at the meeting via video link that about 100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the battle and more than 200 wounded, Russian news agencies reported.
The Ukrainian shelling, meanwhile, killed at least two people - a paramedic and an ambulance driver - and injured 24, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
It was not possible to independently verify the Russian claims. Disinformation and propaganda have played a central role in the war, now in its third year.
The head of the region urged residents to donate blood due to the intense fighting. "In the last 24 hours, our region has been heroically resisting attacks” by Ukrainian fighters, acting Gov Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram, adding that all emergency services were on high alert.
Smirnov said authorities had evacuated more than 200 people from areas under shelling, while several thousand others left in their own vehicles.
If confirmed, the cross-border foray would be among Ukraine's largest since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, and unprecedented for its deployment of Ukrainian military units.