Russia says troops are battling to push Ukrainian forces back after cross-border incursion in Kursk
Russia's Defense Ministry says the country's troops are fighting Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region on the third day of one of the largest cross-border incursions of the war
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian troops are battling to push back Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region on the third day of one of the largest cross-border incursions of the war, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.
A ministry statement said the Russian military and border guards have blocked Ukrainian forces from pushing deeper into the region in southwestern Russia. It added that the army is attacking Ukrainian fighters trying to advance into the area from Ukraine's Sumy region.
“Attempts by individual units to break through deep into the territory in the Kursk direction are being suppressed,” the ministry said.
Ukrainian troops had advanced as much as 15 kilometers (9 miles) into Russian territory, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank. The data that hasn't been officially confirmed.
Kyiv has not commented on the incursion. In a video address to the nation late Thursday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not mention the fighting in the Kursk region but emphasized that “Russia brought the war to our land, and it should feel what it has done.”
“Ukrainians know how to achieve their goals,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he received three “productive reports, exactly the kind our country needs now” on Thursday from the commander of Ukraine's armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Russia says the military has stemmed Ukrainian advances in the border area about 500 kilometers (about 320 miles) southwest of Moscow, but military bloggers and open source data indicate Ukrainian troops have made gains in
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