CORRECTS STATEMENT ABOUT NUMBER OF DRONES DOWNED OVER VORONEZH, BELGOROD, BRYANSK & ORYOL REGIONS
By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - Russia said on Sunday that at least 21 people were injured due to overnight Ukrainian air strikes on multiple regions, including the border region of Kursk, which has been the site of clashes between the two countries since earlier this week.
“As a result of the fall of rocket debris on an apartment building in the regional center (of the Kursk region), 15 people were injured, all are receiving the necessary medical care,” Kursk Governor Alexey Smirnov said on Telegram.
The governor also said a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group crossed into the region’s Belovsky district, but that Russian forces “stabilized the situation.”
Meanwhile, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that shelling late Saturday in the town of Shebekino, located about 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, injured five people and damaged multiple buildings, including apartment buildings.
Gladkov later said that a person was injured with shrapnel wounds after three Ukrainian drones attacked another apartment building in Shebekino overnight.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that its air defenses downed 14 Ukrainian drones and four Tochka missiles over the Kursk region, as well as 20 other drones over the Voronezh, Belgorod, Bryansk, and Oryol regions.
The ministry later said in another statement that it repelled Ukrainian incursions in areas near the settlements of Tolpino, Zhuravli, and Obshchy Kolodez.
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the overnight airstrikes in the region in a statement published by the ministry, which also called on international organizations to condemn the attacks.
Local authorities in the Bryansk, Oryol and Voronezh regions did not report any casualties or damages in their respective regions.
Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the claims.
On Tuesday, Russia said that Ukrainian troops, including tanks and armored combat vehicles, attacked its military positions near two border settlements in the Kursk region.
Since then, Moscow has reported that it has been repelling incursions into the border region by Ukrainian forces, in addition to countering air strikes launched at Kursk and surrounding regions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Kyiv of “large-scale provocation” and “indiscriminate shooting.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later commented on the allegations of a Ukrainian incursion in Kursk, saying: “Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done.”
The clashes have notably taken place in the region's Sudzhansky and Korenevsky districts, both of which are adjacent to Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, which has also been targeted by Russian air strikes.
Russia said that more than 76,000 residents were evacuated from the Kursk region, while local authorities in the Sumy region announced a need to evacuate about 20,000 people in the region as mandatory evacuations continue for residents living in 28 settlements of the border region.