Moscow claims Ukraine has launched offensive inside Russia

Keep knowledgeable with free updates

Merely signal as much as the Conflict in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.

Moscow mentioned on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces tried one of many largest incursions into Russia because the begin of its full-scale invasion, however that its forces managed to fend off the assault.

The Russian defence ministry claimed that “as much as 300 troops” from Ukraine’s twenty second mechanised brigade, “supported by 11 tanks and greater than 20 armoured fight automobiles” had attacked its border models close to Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya in Kursk area round 8am native time.

Native authorities mentioned at the least two individuals died within the offensive.

The area’s performing governor Alexei Smirnov wrote on Telegram that shelling had killed one girl whereas a person had died in a separate drone assault.

He referred to as the state of affairs “troublesome” and urged residents to shelter in “rooms with out home windows and with stable partitions”.

Russian forces have been “beating again the assaults and inflicting hearth harm on the enemy”, the defence ministry mentioned, together with by means of “the efficient use of navy aviation” in opposition to Ukraine’s forces.

A video revealed by eyewitnesses on Telegram exhibits two Russian fighter jets zooming over a freeway at low altitude as black smoke rose from a burning car on the Russian aspect of the border area.

A gaggle of Russian reserve forces have been deployed to the world, the place the ministry claimed to have destroyed sixteen Ukrainian armoured automobiles.

Ukraine’s political and navy leaders didn’t touch upon the assault, in keeping with the nation’s coverage to neither affirm nor deny lively operations on Russian soil.

Its navy and safety providers didn’t reply to requests for remark.

However Andriy Kovalenko, a senior official with the Ukrainian nationwide safety and defence council, hinted at Kyiv’s involvement, writing on Telegram that Russia was “mendacity” about stopping Kyiv’s forces from penetrating the border.

“Russia doesn’t management the border” in Kursk, he wrote on Telegram.

The incursion gave the impression to be one of many largest Ukrainian floor assaults on Russian soil since President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of the nation in 2022.

Preventing was nonetheless raging greater than 10 hours after it started, in keeping with Russian media stories and posts by pro-Kremlin navy bloggers on Telegram.

Russia’s border areas, notably Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod, have come beneath assault by Ukrainian forces on a number of events since March 2022.

In most situations, the assaults have been led by anti-Putin Russian residents preventing for Kyiv in navy models working beneath the command of Ukraine’s navy intelligence directorate.

In some situations, armoured automobiles and weapons offered by the US have been used within the assaults.

Kursk area sits to the north-east of Ukraine’s Sumy area, which has been beneath day by day shelling by Russian forces for almost two years. 1000’s of native Ukrainian residents have been compelled to evacuate their houses.

Russian troops invaded and occupied elements of Sumy area within the early weeks of Putin’s multipronged offensive in February 2022, however have been pushed out in late March that 12 months.

Kyiv officers and the anti-Putin Russian troops concerned within the earlier raids have mentioned that the assaults are essential to deliver the struggle house to Russia whereas making an attempt to pressure Moscow to divert navy assets from the battlefields of south and jap Ukraine.

The assault adopted Russian deputy international minister Sergei Ryabkov’s claims on Monday that Ukrainian particular providers had been making ready an assault inside Russia on July 28, when Putin and his defence minister Andrei Belousov can be celebrating Navy Day.

Ryabkov mentioned the assault was prevented after Belousov referred to as his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin. After the decision, Washington allegedly contacted Kyiv and urged it to not perform this operation, Ryabkov mentioned, referencing a New York Instances article that reported on the decision.

A spokesperson for Austin didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.