Russian President Vladimir Putin urgently convened the Russian Security Council on Wednesday after Ukrainian troops entered the territory of the Russian Kursk region, the Russian Telegram “Brief” channel reports, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Ukrainian troops even managed to consolidate their positions and occupy several localities, while the Kyiv authorities are keeping quiet about the incursion in the region, according to The Moscow Times.
Ahead of the Security Council meeting, Putin will meet with members of the government, a source told Brief. The forum’s members include the heads of the security establishments, the presidents of both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council), Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, former President Dmitry Medvedev, currently deputy secretary of the council, and his secretary, Sergei Shoigu, a former defense minister.
The Russian defense ministry acknowledged on Wednesday that fighting to repel Ukrainian troops who entered the Kursk border region a day earlier is continuing for the second day in a row, EFE and Reuters note.
“During the past night, detachments of the Russian Federation forces, together with units of border guards (under the Federal Security Service /FSB), continued to repel Ukrainian army troops in areas of the Kursk region bordering the Russian-Ukrainian border,” a ministry statement said. “The operation to eliminate Ukrainian army units continues.”
According to the well-known Russian military blogger Rybar, Ukrainian troops are reported to have fortified three localities in Kursk, where about 400 fighters have entered, and another 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers are said to be stationed on the border.
Some Russian Telegram channels claim that Ukrainian troops have advanced 10 km into Russian territory. The governor of Russia’s Kursk region, Aleksei Smirnov, said he had discussed the border incursion with President Vladimir Putin, who assured him that he would get all the help needed to stabilize the situation.
“The situation in the region is controllable,” he said, noting that thousands of people in several towns near the border had been evacuated.
