The Ukrainians launched new drone strikes in its Russian border region on Tuesday Kurska day after President Vladimir Putin lashed out at the West, saying the latter supports Kiev’s surprise incursion into Russian territory.

Russia’s defense ministry said its air defenses had destroyed 12 drones over the Kursk region, which Ukraine attacked a week ago and claims to have captured 1,000 square kilometers of territory by Monday.

According to the Russian ministry, one drone was also destroyed over the Voronezh region and another over the Belgorod region.

Putin claimed on Monday that the Ukraine raid – the largest since Moscow launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine – is aimed at improving Kiev’s negotiating position ahead of potential peace talks.

In his most detailed comments yet on the attacks, the Russian president also said that Kiev, “with the help of its Western bosses,” was trying to slow the advance of Russian forces in what the Kremlin called a “special military operation » in Ukraine.

He wondered what kind of negotiations could be had with an enemy he accused of opening fire indiscriminately on Russian civilians and nuclear facilities.

Yesterday, Monday, the head of the Ukrainian armed forces, Oleksandr Sirsky, told President Volodymyr Zelensky that Ukrainian troops continue to advance into Russian territory.

“We continue to conduct an aggressive operation in the Kursk region. At the moment, we control about 1,000 square kilometers of the territory of the Russian Federation,” he said in a video released by Zelensky’s Telegram account.

Reuters was unable to confirm either side’s claims.

The acting governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, said that Ukraine controls 28 settlements in the region and that the raid is being conducted at a depth of about 12 kilometers and a width of 40 kilometers.

In the Kursk region, 121,000 people have already been evacuated and another 59,000 are being evacuated, local officials said. In Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Kursk, 11,000 civilians have also been displaced, the region’s governor said.

Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region are trying to encircle Sunja, where Russian gas flows into Ukraine, while heavy fighting is taking place near Korenevo, about 22 kilometers from the border, and Martynovka, according to some military bloggers.

The Ukrainian Air Force announced today that Russia launched 38 attack drones and launched two ballistic missiles overnight against Ukraine. The entire country was briefly on air raid alert this morning, but the alerts have since been lifted.