Hundreds of Ukrainian troops ‘try to interrupt via Russian border’
Hundreds of Ukrainian troops have reportedly attempted to break through Russian border points in a new incursion bid as battles continue in Kursk.
Russian Telegram channels with links to the security services said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had attacked a border post in Russia‘s southern Belgorod region, but there was no immediate official confirmation of fighting there.
Belgorod borders the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops have seized Russian territory since staging a lightning incursion on August 6 and are still battling to seize more ground, with Kyiv saying it was making advances.
The Mash Telegram channel said around 500 Ukrainian troops had attacked two Russian checkpoints at Nekhoteyevka and Shebekino in the Belgorod region.
Mash said up to 200 Ukrainian soldiers with infantry fighting vehicles had tried to cross the border at Nekhoteyevka and were fired on by Russian artillery. It said about 300 Ukrainians had attacked the other checkpoint at Shebekino.
A soldier of Ukraine’s 22nd Separate Mechanised Brigade aims a Browning M2 machine gun during an exercise in the Sumy region near the Russian border, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, August 17, 2024
Russian servicemen, in footage released by the by the Russian Defence Ministry Press-Service on August 23, are seen firing a 122-mm howitzer D-30 towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location
A Ukrainian serviceman stands near a damaged building in the city center of Sudzha, in Ukraine-controlled territory of Russia’s Kursk region on August 21, 2024
In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday, August 19, 2024, Russian soldiers fire an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location in the Russian Kursk region
There was no official confirmation of the reports and SHOT, another Telegram news channel, said that Ukrainian forces had been pushed back from Nekhoteyevka after suffering losses. SHOT said there had been no clashes at Shebekino.
In a Telegram message, Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said: ‘Information has emerged that the enemy is trying to break through the border of the Belgorod region. According to the Russian defence ministry, the situation on the border remains difficult but under control.’
He later posted a message saying Ukraine had launched shelling and drone attacks on at least three villages in the region, without commenting further on the reported incursion.
Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said on Tuesday that Moscow does not believe that Ukraine planned its incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region by itself, the TASS state news agency reported.
Russia has claimed, without providing evidence, that the United States helped Kyiv launch its attack into Russia.
Meanwhile the battles in the Kursk region continue, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky saying on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had taken control of two more Russian settlements in Kursk region, adding to dozens already captured.
More than 130,000 people have been displaced so far.
Kyiv has said the offensive aims to prevent cross-border strikes from Russia into its Sumy region and to force Russia to the negotiating table ‘on our own terms’ as Putin’s forces are moving deeper into eastern Ukraine.
It comes as UN nuclear watchdog head Rafael Grossi kicked off a visit to ‘independently assess’ conditions at Russia’s Kursk nuclear plant on Tuesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly warned of the dangers of fighting around nuclear plants following Russia’s full-scale military offensive into Ukraine in February 2022.
A spokesperson for Russia’s nuclear agency, Rosatom, said that Rossi had arrived at the power plant as he personally leads a mission to assess the situation there, which he has warned is ‘serious’.
It comes as UN nuclear watchdog head Rafael Grossi kicked off a visit to ‘independently assess’ conditions at Russia’s Kursk nuclear plant on Tuesday
Ukrainian servicemen ride a military vehicle, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the Russian border in Sumy region, Ukraine August 11, 2024
A Ukrainian military member holds weapon and takes photos on August 16, 2024 in Sudzha, Russia
In the first days of the conflict, Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, and also briefly held the decommissioned Chernobyl plant in the north.
Putin accused Ukraine of trying to attack the Kursk nuclear power plant last week, which is less than 30 miles from fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
The IAEA confirmed that it had been told by Russian authorities that drone fragments were found last Thursday roughly 320 feet from the Kursk plant’s spent nuclear fuel storage facility.
Grossi said he would ‘independently assess what is happening’ at the plant, ‘given the serious situation’.
‘The safety and security of all nuclear power plants is of central and fundamental concern to the IAEA,’ Grossi said in a statement.
The plant lies some 37 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border, next to the Seym river, and less than 31 miles away from Kursk city, the region’s capital with a population of around 440,000.
Robert Kelley, a former IAEA director of inspections, said: ‘The possibility of a Chernobyl-type incident with the reactor blowing up and burning for days is zero.’
But he added that an errant bomb or large artillery strike on spent fuel storage ponds could damage the fuel and release radioactive gases and particles.
Russia has repeatedly sounded the alarm over a possible hit since Ukrainian troops and tanks stormed into Kursk.
The IAEA urged both Russia and Ukraine to exercise ‘maximum restraint’ to ‘avoid a nuclear accident with the potential for serious radiological consequences’.
