“The Kiev regime has staged another large-scale provocation and is indiscriminately firing various types of weapons, including missiles, at civilian buildings,” Putin was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency.
Putin called an emergency meeting with government members to address the situation in Kursk, after Ukraine launched an attack on Tuesday with about 300 troops and dozens of armored vehicles, which was repelled by Russian defenses.
The Russian military reported today that fighting is continuing in the Kursk region, prompting thousands of people to leave the area, which has been the scene of an incursion by Ukrainian forces since Tuesday.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on the social networking site Telegram that “the operation to destroy the Ukrainian army formations continues,” claiming that it “prevented the enemy from advancing deep into Russian territory.”
In a video posted on Telegram, acting regional governor Alexei Smirnov said he had already spoken by phone with Putin, who assured him of “all necessary assistance,” noting that “several thousand people have left the bombed zone.”
Smirnov also announced that the authorities had prepared shelters for 2,500 refugees on Tuesday night, and had already placed more than 300 people there, including 121 children.
Medical services in the Kursk region also recorded the deaths of five civilians and the injury of 27 others as a result of the Ukrainian attack.