Russia says it thwarts Ukrainian cross-border raid in new area

[August 22, 2024]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday its troops had beaten back an attempt by a Ukrainian force to infiltrate its border in a different region to Kyiv's incursion onto Russian territory, while Ukrainian drones struck near an air base in southern Russia.

The governor of Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, said the attack by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance team on Wednesday was thwarted by Russian border guards and military units.

It took place about 240 km (150 miles) from the site of Ukraine's incursion into the neighboring Kursk region in western Russia, suggesting that the Kyiv government aimed to carry the war to more border areas.

Authorities in Kursk said on Thursday they had begun installing concrete shelters to help protect civilians amid the Ukrainian incursion.

Ukrainian troops piled through the Russian border into Kursk on Aug. 6 in a surprise assault after its troops had failed to make any significant gains on their own territory since late 2022.

Kyiv has announced a string of battlefield successes since mounting the action, but meanwhile Moscow has steadily pushed forward in eastern Ukraine, pressuring troops worn down by hard years of fighting following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia has repeatedly said the Ukrainian offensive has beenhalted. Ukraine has also continued to tout advances.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov told a visiting delegation of U.S. congressmen on Wednesday that Kyiv's attack on Kursk was intended to protect Ukraine.

Umerov said in a statement: "Our goals there (in Kursk) are to clear the border from Russian military threats and make enemy shelling and attacks on our towns and villages impossible."

The incursion has boosted morale among Ukrainians as they prepare to mark 33 years since independence from the Soviet Union on Saturday. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv however warned on Thursday there was a heightened risk of Russian missile and drone attacks throughout Ukraine in the coming days connected to Independence Day.

DRONE SWARMS

In Russia's southern Volgograd region, a fire broke out at a military facility after a Ukrainian drone crashed into it on Thursday, regional governor Andrei Bocharov said.

A Ukrainian serviceman patrols a street next to buildings, damaged during recent fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in controlled by Ukrainian army the town of Sudzha, Kursk region, Russia August 16, 2024. REUTERS/Yan Dobronosov/File Photo

Bocharov, posting on Telegram, said no one had been hurt and he did not specify what facility had been attacked, but said the attack focused on the area of the Marinovka village, where a military air base is located.

Aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said temporary restrictions were imposed on Thursday on the Volgograd airport, which was not accepting or sending aircraft.

Russia's defense ministry said it had shot down 28 drones over Russian territory.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he and his army chief had visited the border region of Sumy near the border with Russia. Ukrainian troops had taken control of one more village in the Kursk region, he said. Ukrainian officials have previously said Kyiv controls more than 90 settlements there.

The Ukrainian military's General Staff said the fighting on the eastern front remained intense and that Russian troops had launched 53 assaults and offensive actions on the front to the east of the transport hub of Pokrovsk in the last 24 hours.

The Ukrainian navy said its forces conducted an attack on a Russian ammunition and fuel storage site on the Moscow-held Kinburn Spit that juts out into the Black Sea in occupied southern Ukraine.

Russia said on Wednesday its forces had advanced in eastern Ukraine and had begun to push back Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region, though a senior commander cautioned that Ukrainian forces were regrouping for another possible attack

Ukraine has closely guarded its main aims in Kursk region but said it has carved out a buffer zone from an area Russia has used to pound targets in Ukraine with cross-border strikes.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus, Writing by Angus MacSwan, Editing by xxx)

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