Kiev’s troops are deliberately targeting civilians and medics in their assault on Kursk Region in Russia, acting governor Aleksey Smirnov told President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. Ukrainian forces invaded the border area of the region two days ago, in a major cross-border raid.
The Ukrainian military has been actively trying to impede the evacuation of civilians from the settlements near the border, Smirnov said, adding that Kiev’s units were “firing at civilians and ambulances.”
“There are instances in which medics have died,” he added.
According to the acting governor, the evacuation operation was launched as soon as Ukraine started its cross-border assault early on Tuesday. The Russian Defense Ministry then reported stalling the Ukrainian military’s advance, with hostilities ongoing in some parts of the border area, including near the town of Sudzha.
The local authorities had to use armored cash-in-transit vehicles donated by banks to take people to safety, Smirnov also said.
On Wednesday, officials also reported the Ukrainian forces deliberately targeting an ambulance in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attack.
“The Ukrainian Nazis struck an ambulance with a drone near Sudzha,” the acting governor wrote on Telegram. “A driver and a paramedic died and a doctor sustained injuries,” he added, vowing that those behind the attack, whom he called “terrorists,” would be brought to justice.
At least four civilians have been killed in the attack and 28 have been injured in Ukrainian artillery and drone strikes on Sudzha, Smirnov said.
Up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers have taken part in the operation, backed by armor that included several US-made Stryker armored fighting vehicles, as well as artillery and drones, according to the Russian authorities. Kiev has not commented on the attack so far.
Kiev’s forces had lost some 660 soldiers and 82 armor pieces, including eight tanks, 12 armored personnel carriers and six infantry fighting vehicles, since the start of their attempted incursion into Kursk Region, according to the latest estimates provided by the Russian Defense Ministry. Moscow’s troops, together with border guards, have been preventing the Ukrainian military from getting deeper into the region, the ministry said.