Ukraine’s attempted incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region has been halted, the chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday. Kiev’s forces have suffered 300 casualties in the attack, he added.
Reporting to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gerasimov stated that border security services had stopped the Ukrainian advance with the help of reinforcement units, air strikes, missile forces, and artillery fire.
Kiev’s forces suffered 315 casualties during the attempted incursion, with at least 100 troops killed and 215 wounded, Gerasimov estimated. Ukraine also lost 54 armored vehicles, including seven tanks, he added.
Ukraine initially launched the attack at 5:30am on Tuesday with a force numbering up to a thousand, with the goal of taking over the Sudzhinsky district of Kursk Region, Gerasimov said.
He insisted that Russia’s counter-operation will end with the enemy forces being destroyed or driven back beyond the border.
Previously commenting on Tuesday’s attack, Putin stated that the incursion was yet another large-scale provocation undertaken by the Kiev regime, which he said has again resorted to indiscriminately targeting civilians.
Ukrainian forces “are conducting indiscriminate fire from various types of weapons, including rocket weapons, at civilian buildings, homes and ambulances,” Putin said at a government meeting on Wednesday.
More than 2,000 people have fled the border areas, some with the assistance of rescuers, since the fighting broke out on Tuesday morning, regional governor Aleksey Smirnov has reported. Authorities have provided emergency shelters for those who need them, while neighboring regions are also offering their help to the refugees.