The head of the Russian border region of Kursk declared a state of emergency this Wednesday (08/07/2024) following the Ukrainian cross-border incursion that began about 36 hours ago. It was the deadliest attack by Ukrainian forces on the Russian border in months.

“In the Kursk region, a complicated situation continues in the border areas. To mitigate the consequences of the penetration of enemy forces into the territory of the region, I decided to declare a state of emergency in the region from August 7. Region,” regional governor Alexey Smirnov announced in a message collected by several agencies via Telegram.

During Wednesday, an anti-aircraft alert was repeatedly activated in the area and remained active for more than 12 hours; Last published at 8:16 PM Moscow time (17:16 GMT) has not yet been removed.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops remained on Russian soil Wednesday after an incursion that began the day before left thousands of people on both sides of the border evacuated and more than 600 in shelters.

As a result of the attacks, five civilians have so far died and another 31 have been injured, according to the Russian Ministry of Health. For their part, the Ukrainian authorities did not confirm these figures.

The attack on Ukraine began at dawn

According to Moscow, Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region on Tuesday with “1,000 soldiers”, Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Wednesday, a dozen tanks and about twenty armored vehicles. A move that Ukrainian authorities have so far made no official statement about.

After two days of fighting, several reports from Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers said the fighters had advanced several kilometers, but the extent or depth of damage from the Ukrainian advance into Russian territory was unclear.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the “massive provocation” and said the “Kiev regime” was “indiscriminately firing at civilian buildings, homes and ambulances with various types of weapons, including rockets”.

The head of the Russian army's general staff told Putin in a televised meeting that “advances deep into the enemy's territory have been halted by aircraft and artillery.”

“Fighting continues in the border areas,” Gerasimov added. “The action will end with the defeat of the enemy,” he announced.

Since the start of Russian military operations in Ukraine in February 2022, there have been several incursions by pro-Ukrainian militias into Russian soil, many of which have been stopped by the Russian military. Some of them have forced Moscow to resort to artillery and airlift, as in the case of Tuesday's incursion.

aa (afp, reuters, efe)