Russian forces thwart an attempted cross-border attack from Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces thwarted another attempted cross-border Ukrainian incursion into southwestern Russia, a local official said Sunday, months after Kiev launched a daring attack on its nuclear-armed foe that Moscow still seeks to defeat. stop .

An “armed group” tried to cross the border between Ukraine and Russia’s Bryansk region on Sunday, its governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said, but was repelled. Bogomaz did not clarify whether the alleged attack was carried out by Ukrainian soldiers, but said on Sunday evening that the situation was “stable and under the control” of the Russian military.

There was no immediate confirmation or response from Ukrainian officials.

The region borders the Kursk Oblast, where on August 6, Ukraine carried out a surprise attack that shocked the Kremlin and was the largest attack on Russia since World War II. In the first moments of the lightning advance, hundreds of Russian prisoners were blindfolded and transported by truck, while battle-hardened Ukrainian units rapidly advanced into territory covering hundreds of square miles (square kilometers).

Two obscure groups have assumed responsibility for previous incursions into Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk oblasts: the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Russian Freedom Legion.

Russian officials and state media are trying to downplay the significance of Kiev’s turbulent attack near Kursk, but the armed forces have so far failed to dislodge Ukrainian troops from the province. Western officials have speculated that Moscow may send troops from North Korea to bolster its efforts to do so, fueling the nearly three-year war and carrying geopolitical ramifications as far as the Indo-Pacific region.

Russian lawmakers on Thursday ratified a pact with Pyongyang providing for mutual military assistance, which came after the United States confirmed the deployment of 3,000 North Korean troops to Russia.

According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, known by its acronym GUR, North Korean units were detected in Kursk on Wednesday. The soldiers underwent several weeks of training at bases in eastern Russia and were equipped with clothes for the coming winter, the GUR said in a statement published late on Thursday evening. She did not provide evidence for her claims.

Moscow warns the West against approving long-range attacks on Russia

Also on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was working on ways to respond if the United States and its NATO allies allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with Western long-range missiles.

Putin told Russian state television it was too early to say exactly how Moscow would respond, but the defense ministry was considering a number of options.

Russia has repeatedly signaled that it would consider any such attacks a serious escalation. The Kremlin leader warned on September 12 that Moscow would be “at war” with the US and NATO countries if they approved it, saying the bloc’s military infrastructure and personnel would have to be involved in targeting and firing the missiles.

He reinforced that message by announcing a new version of nuclear doctrine that recognizes a conventional attack on Russia by a non-nuclear state backed by a nuclear force as a joint attack on his country, sending a clear warning to the United States and other Kyiv allies.

Putin also stated that the revised document provides for the possibility of using nuclear weapons in the event of a massive air attack, opening the door to a potential nuclear response to any air attack – an ambiguity intended to deter the West.

Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly said they need permission to attack weapons depots, airports and military bases far from the border to motivate Russia to pursue peace. In response, U.S. defense officials argued that the number of missiles was limited and that Ukraine was already using its own long-range drones to hit targets further inside Russia.

Evidence of this capability was provided by a Ukrainian drone strike in mid-September that struck a large Russian military depot in a city 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the border.

The United States is allowing Kiev to use American-supplied weapons in more limited cross-border strikes to counter attacks by Russian forces.

Civilian deaths were reported in Kherson as warring sides traded drone strikes

In a separate update, Bryansk Governor Bogomaz said that over a dozen Ukrainian drones were shot down over the region on Sunday. Separately, at least 16 drones were shot down over other regions of Russia, including Tambov province, about 450 kilometers (290 miles) north of the border, officials said. There are no reports of victims in any of the alleged attacks.

According to local governor Oleksandr Prokudin, three civilians were killed on Sunday in Kherson in southern Ukraine as a result of Russian shelling. According to the Ukrainian emergency services, another resident of Kherson died in a fire caused by missiles hitting a skyscraper.

Emergency sirens blared in Kiev for more than three hours overnight into Sunday, and city authorities later said that “around 10” drones had been shot down. They said no one was hurt. On Sunday, the Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down 41 drones launched by Russia over Ukrainian territory.