Russia has sent reserve troops to the southern Kursk region bordering Ukraine after up to 300 Ukrainian fighters attacked its border units today, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The region’s acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, said earlier that Russian forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to infiltrate the border, but the situation remained “difficult”.

Smirnov posted on Telegram that three civilians were killed during the day by Ukrainian strikes in this Russian region.

According to Smirnov, soldiers of the Ukrainian army carried out “infiltration attempts” in the Shuja and Korenevsky districts.

“Soldiers of the Border Guard Service and the Russian Armed Forces prevented the crossing of the border“, he said on Telegram, but called the situation “difficult”.

The MASH Telegram channel, which has contacts in Russian state security, reported that about 100 Ukrainian fighters tried to enter Russia in the Shuja district of Kursk.

When asked by AFP A spokesman for the Ukrainian military declined to comment the situation at the border.

Russian forces are “failing to defend” the Kursk region, Andrii Kovalenko, an official with Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said without elaborating.

Smirnov also reported “massive shelling” and Ukrainian drone attacks targeting his area, which killed at least three civilians and injured 13 others, including four children.

Since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022 until today, there have been several incursions of armed militants into Russia.

In several cases, these were carried out by the “Legion of Freedom of Russia” and the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, groups that are presented as composed of Kiev-based Russian fighters and have been designated as “terrorist organizations” by Moscow.

Their operations have increased pressure on Russian areas near Ukraine, which are also regularly subject to deadly bombing in retaliation for Russian strikes on Ukrainian soil.

Russian forces each claim to repel these incursions, but some of them have forced Moscow to use its artillery and air force.

On the front, Russia today announced the capture of a new village, Timofyevka, on the road to the city of Pokrovsk, a sector of the front where Russian forces have been gaining ground in recent weeks.

Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov visited positions controlled by his troops in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry announced today.

“The Chief of the General Staff listened to the commanders’ reports (…) He drew conclusions from them and set tasks for future actions“, says the ministry in its announcement.

Moscow claims Ukrainian sabotage group is retreating after attempted attack on its southern border

The Ukrainian sabotage group that attempted to attack Russia’s Kursk region retreated in defeat, the Russian Defense Ministry announced today.

Russia accused Ukraine of launching an attack on its southern border and said it had moved reserves to help repel hundreds of fighters backed by tanks.