Fierce fighting is raging in the Kursk region as Ukraine launched a surprise ground attack on Russia with troops and armored vehicles, Russian officials said, in one of the largest Ukrainian incursions into Russian territory in the two years of the war.

The attack, which began on Tuesday in the Kursk region of western Russiaresulted in heavy fighting, according to battlefield images verified by independent military analysts and confirmed by Russian officials.

In emergency situation declared the region, Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov said in a post, due to the Ukrainian ground offensive against the border province.

“The operational situation remains difficult in the border zones. In order to limit the consequences of the invasion of enemy forces, I decided to declare a state of emergency,” Smirnov said.

Earlier, Chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, stated that “up to 1,000” Ukrainian soldiers took part in the raid that took place yesterday in the Kursk region, on the border with Ukraine.

“The enemy’s advance in depth at [ρωσικό] ground was stopped by air and artillery strikes,” Gerasimov assured President Vladimir Putin during a meeting broadcast on Russian television.

Gerasimov also said Russian forces were still “destroying the enemy” in areas near the border.

In particular, Gerasimov said the Ukrainian troop advance had stopped by Wednesday night, but pro-Kremlin military bloggers said Ukrainian forces had captured several settlements near the border.

“Disturbing news is coming from the Kursk region for the second day,” Igor Artamonov, the governor of Russia’s Lipetsk region, which borders Kursk region, said on Wednesday. “The Kiev regime is attacking our borders.”

By Wednesday afternoon, Ukrainian troops appeared to have advanced several miles into Russian territory, an analyst told The New York Times, while Russian officials said fighting was continuing.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the offensive began around 8 a.m. Tuesday with Ukraine’s 22nd Mechanized Brigade attacking border units in the Kursk region, supported by about 30 tanks and armored fighting vehicles.

Evacuate the area

Ukraine today ordered the evacuation of around 6,000 people from Ukrainian border areas located near the Russian Kursk region, after the Ukrainian forces attacked there, the governor of the Sumy province announced.

“The order I just signed provides for the mandatory evacuation of people from 23 locations” in Sumy province, Governor Volodymyr Artyukh said.

“There are about 6,000 people, including 425 children,” in those locations he said.

Putin: The Ukrainian attack on Kursk is a big challenge

Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that the Ukrainian incursion into the Russian Kursk region is a major challenge.

“The Kiev regime has launched another major challenge,” Putin told members of the Russian government about the Kursk attack.

Putin said Ukrainian forces were conducting “indiscriminate shelling” of civilian targets in the Kursk region.

In particular, speaking before the Security Council meeting in Moscow, Putin accused Ukrainian forces of “indiscriminately firing” at civilian buildings and homes.

Gazprom will continue to send natural gas through Ukraine to Europe

The unofficial Russian military blog Rybar reported that Ukrainian troops seized the natural gas metering station in the Russian city of Sunja, a claim that could not be confirmed, Bloomberg reports.

The state Gazprom adeclined to comment, while the response of both the Ukrainian Defense Minister and the armed forces was negative.

Traders are on the lookout for a possible disruption of transport from this point – the last operating station for the transfer of Russian natural gas to Europe – as fighting on the border with Ukraine intensifies. A possible disruption to the flow of natural gas would lead to a spike in prices, affecting consumers and industries, even as Europe is still trying to recover from the energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The operator of the Ukrainian natural gas transmission system said during the regular briefing that the flows for Thursday will move within the normal range. A similar position was taken by Gazprom, which in its own regular update said that flows moved to their usual levels on Wednesday. Ukraine’s gas transit operator said Gazprom would continue to send natural gas through Ukraine to Europe.