Putin Calls Ukraine’s Kursk Incursion ‘Large-Scale Provocation’

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Ukraine’s successful incursion into the neighboring Kursk region in Russia on Aug. 6 a “large-scale provocation” but did not mention how Russia would potentially respond to the situation.

Putin also accused Ukraine of attacking civilian objects and said he would have a meeting with military and intelligence officials later today.

“We will have to start with the events in Kursk Region. As is known, the Kiev [sic] regime has undertaken another large-scale provocation: it is indiscriminately firing from various types of weapons, including missiles, at civilian buildings, residential buildings, and ambulances.

“Immediately after our meeting, I will have a meeting with the heads of law enforcement agencies, the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff, the FSB – I mean the border direction of the Federal Security Service. And I will hear another report from my colleagues on what is happening in Kursk Oblast,” said Putin at a meeting with members of the government on Aug. 7, as per a video published by the Kremlin on Telegram.

He added that he has instructed “a number of civil departments” in the Kursk region to “provide the necessary assistance to residents of the region” and the government to “take up this matter immediately” without further elaboration.

Early on Tuesday, Aug. 6, some units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) reportedly attempted to penetrate Russia’s Kursk region, the region‘s acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, reported.

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Initial reports said the parents of the 22-year-old suspect live in occupied territories in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region and he was recruited remotely by a Russian intelligence officer in Crimea.

Five people have been killed and 24 wounded since the fighting began, 13 of whom have been hospitalized, according to Russian officials.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had deployed combat aircraft and reserves to counter the attack. In one video circulating on social media, a local resident could be seen swearing profusely at the ongoing hostilities as jets screeched above the treelines.

[EMBED VIDEO FROM THIS ARTICLE https://www.kyivpost.com/post/36990]

“F**ing sh*t, planes are flying overhead, fighters, the car is burning down,” comments over the video can be heard.

The authenticity of the video, provided by Astra, has not been independently verified by Kyiv Post.

While Ukraine has not officially commented on the latest Kursk incursions, Kyiv Post’s sources in the Security Sevice of Ukraine (SBU) have confirmed that soldiers from the M2 unit of the SBU Special Operations Center successfully struck a Russian Mi-28 helicopter with a first-person view (FPV) drone over the Kursk region on Tuesday, Aug. 6.

Throughout the ongoing war, there have been multiple attempts to breach the Ukrainian-Russian border in the Kursk and Belgorod regions by units such as the “Russian Volunteer Corps,” the “Freedom of Russia Legion,” and the “Siberian Battalion,” who fight alongside Ukraine and are linked to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR).