KYIV: Russian officials said Wednesday they were fighting off Ukrainian cross-border raids in a southwestern border province for a second day, as Kyiv officials remained quiet about the scope of the operation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incursion into the south-western Kursk region as a “large-scale provocation” and said he will hold a meeting with top defense and security officials to discuss the situation.
“The Kyiv regime has undertaken another large-scale provocation and launched indiscriminate shelling of civilian buildings, residential houses, ambulances with different types of weapons,” Putin said at a meeting with Cabinet officials. He instructed the Cabinet to coordinate assistance to the Kursk region.
The head of the Kursk region urged residents to donate blood due to the intense fighting.
“In the last 24 hours, our region has been heroically resisting attacks” by Ukrainian fighters, acting governor Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram, adding that all emergency services were on high alert.
If confirmed, the alleged cross-border foray could draw Russian reserves to the area, weakening Moscow’s offensive operations in several parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region where Russian forces have increased attacks to make the most of the summer fighting season.
But it could risk stretching outmanned Ukrainian troops further along the front line, which is more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) long.
Russian forces have swiftly repelled previous cross-border incursions, but not before they caused damage and embarrassed authorities.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that up to 300 Ukrainian troops, supported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armored combat vehicles, had crossed into Russia and suffered heavy losses.
It said Wednesday that military and border guard troops “continued to destroy Ukrainian military units in the areas alongside the border in the Kursk region.”
The ministry said Russian forces backed by artillery and warplanes “didn’t allow the enemy to advance deeper into the territory of the Russian Federation.”
Ukrainian officials declined to comment, and it wasn’t possible to verify the Russian claims.
Open-source monitors have not been able to verify the claims. The US-based Institute for the Study of War could not verify whether geolocated footage of damaged and abandoned armored vehicles 7 kilometers (4 miles) north of the border west of Lyubimovka, in the Kursk region, were Ukrainian.
The think tank also cast doubt on footage shared by Russian military bloggers claiming to show the aftermath of the Ukrainian raids. Most of the damage shown “appears to be the result of routine Ukrainian shelling and does not indicate that there was ground activity in the area,” it said in its daily report.
Responsibility for previous incursions into Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions have been claimed by two murky groups: the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion, which are made up of Russian citizens and have fought alongside Ukrainian forces.
Disinformation and propaganda have played a central role in the war, now in its third year.
Some Russian war bloggers who have proved knowledgeable about the war said that Ukrainian soldiers were in Kursk.
Rybar, a Telegram channel run by Mikhail Zvinchuk, a retired Russian Defense Ministry press officer, said Ukrainian troops had seized three settlements in the region and continued to fight their way deeper into it.
Another pro-Kremlin military blog, Two Majors, claimed that Ukrainian troops had advanced up to 15 kilometers into the region.
Neither claim could be independently verified.
The Kursk region’s border with Ukraine is 245 kilometers (150 miles) long, making it possible for saboteur groups to launch swift incursions and capture some ground before Russia deploys reinforcements.
Russian officials say they are fighting off a Ukrainian military incursion for a second day
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Russian officials say they are fighting off a Ukrainian military incursion for a second day
- Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incursion into the south-western Kursk region as a “large-scale provocation”
- “The Kyiv regime has undertaken another large-scale provocation and launched indiscriminate shelling of civilian buildings,” Putin said at a meeting with Cabinet officials
Pakistani fighter jet crashes in Jalalabad, pilot captured: Afghan military, police
- Fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban military entered its third day on Saturday
- Pakistan’s strikes on Friday hit Taliban military installations and posts, including in Kabul and Kandahar
JALALABAD: A Pakistani jet has crashed in Jalalabad city and the pilot captured alive, the Afghan military and police said Saturday, with residents telling AFP the man parachuted from the plane before being detained.
"A Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the sixth district of Jalalabad city, and its pilot was captured alive," police spokesman Tayeb Hammad said.
Wahidullah Mohammadi, spokesman for the military in eastern Afghanistan, confirmed the Pakistani jet was downed by Afghan forces "and the pilot was captured alive".
The AFP journalist heard a jet overhead before blasts from the direction of the airport in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, which sits on the road between Kabul and the Pakistani border.
Fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban military entered its third day on Saturday, following overnight clashes as the international community expressed increasing concern about the conflict and called for urgent talks.
Pakistan’s strikes on Friday hit Taliban military installations and posts, including in Kabul and Kandahar, in one of the deepest Pakistani incursions into its western neighbor in years, officials said.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of harboring Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, who it claims are waging an insurgency inside Pakistan, a charge the Taliban denies.
Pakistan described its actions as a response to cross-border assaults, while Kabul denounced them as a breach of its sovereignty, saying it remained open to dialogue but warned any wider conflict would result in serious consequences.
The fighting has raised the risk of a protracted conflict along the rugged 2,600-kilometer frontier.
Diplomatic efforts gathered pace late on Friday as Afghanistan said its foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, spoke by telephone with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan about reducing tensions and keeping diplomatic channels open.
The European Union called for both sides to de-escalate and engage in dialogue, while the United Nations urged an immediate end to hostilities.
Russia urged both sides to halt the clashes and return to talks, while China said it was deeply concerned and ready to help ease tensions.
The United States supports Pakistan’s right to defend itself against attacks by the Taliban, a State Department spokesperson said.
Border fighting continues
Exchanges of fire continued along the border overnight.
Pakistani security sources said an operation dubbed “Ghazab Lil Haq” was ongoing and that Pakistani forces had destroyed multiple Taliban posts and camps in several sectors. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.
Both sides have reported heavy losses with conflicting tolls that Reuters could not verify. Pakistan said 12 of its soldiers and 274 Taliban were killed while the Taliban said 13 of its fighters and 55 Pakistani soldiers died.
Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said 19 civilians were killed and 26 wounded in Khost and Paktika. Reuters could not verify the claim.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said “our cup of patience has overflowed” and described the fighting as “open war,” warning that Pakistan would respond to further attacks.
Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani said in a speech in Khost province that the conflict “will be very costly,” and that Afghan forces had not deployed broadly beyond those already engaged.
He said the Taliban had defeated “the world, not through technology, but through unity and solidarity,” and through “great patience and perseverance,” rather than superior military power.
Pakistan’s military capabilities far exceed those of Afghanistan, with a standing army of hundreds of thousands and a modern air force.
In stark contrast, the Taliban lacks a conventional air force and relies largely on light weaponry and ground forces.
However, the Islamist group is battle-hardened after two decades of insurgency against US-led forces before returning to power in 2021.
