President Putin Accuses Ukraine of Provocation After Attack on Russia’s Kursk Region

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of a "provocation" at the Russian border in response to a rare cross-border attack by Ukrainian troops.

"The Kyiv regime has undertaken yet another large-scale provocation, delivering indiscriminate fire from various types of weapons, including missiles, at civilian buildings, residential houses, and ambulances,” President Putin said in a video address issued on Wednesday.

The incident began on Tuesday when several hundred Ukrainian troops, with around ten tanks and twenty armored vehicles, launched an offensive on Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine. In response, a state of emergency was declared in Kursk. The acting regional governor, Alexei Smirnov, said the move was necessary "to eliminate the consequences of enemy forces coming into the region."

Several localities, including the small town of Sudzha, were hit by drones and missiles. According to Russian officials, the attacks resulted in at least five deaths and more than 31 injuries.

The Russian defense ministry reported that its forces and Russian border authorities "have been destroying armed formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the last night in the Kursk region’s areas immediately adjacent to the Russian–Ukrainian border." 

“Air and missile strikes, artillery fire, as well as units of the State Border Covering Force prevented the enemy from advancing deep into the territory of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said.

Meanwhile, experts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) confirmed that Ukrainian troops had advanced up to ten kilometers into Russia’s Kursk region.

The attack, supported by the presence of 2,000 Ukrainian troops, marked the largest incursion into Russia since the war began.

In a video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky explained the attack, stating, "Russia brought the war to our land, and it should feel what it has done. We strive to achieve our goals as soon as possible in peacetime – under just peace conditions. And it will happen."

The full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine began in 2022 when Russian troops entered Ukraine, citing the protection of people in self-proclaimed separatist-controlled regions of Ukraine allegedly under attack by the Ukrainian military. The Russian offensive targeted northern, eastern, and southern regions of Ukraine, attempting to weaken the defense lines of the Ukrainian army. However, Russia’s blitzkrieg tactics faced resilient resistance from Ukraine’s military and civilians, thwarting Moscow's initial objectives.

The armed conflict dates back to the 2014 crisis in Ukraine’s southern and eastern regions, with Ukraine accusing Russia of annexing Crimea and supporting separatist movements in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia currently occupies nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory. Kyiv is determined to reclaim all occupied areas, insisting that peace can only be achieved if Russia withdraws its forces and Ukraine’s territorial integrity is restored.