Russian troops thwart attempted cross-border attack from Ukraine, official says

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces have thwarted an attempted new cross-border incursion from Ukraine into southwestern Russia, a local official said Sunday, months after Kiev carried out a daring attack on its nuclear-armed enemy that Moscow continues to struggle has to put a stop to it.

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

There was no immediate acknowledgment or response from Ukrainian officials.

The region borders Kursk province, where Ukraine launched a surprise attack on August 6 that rattled the Kremlin and marked the biggest attack on Russia since World War II. Hundreds of Russian prisoners were blindfolded and taken away in trucks in the opening moments of the lightning advance, and Ukraine’s battle-hardened units quickly pushed through hundreds of square kilometers (square miles) of territory.

Responsibility for previous raids in the Russian regions of Belgorod and Bryansk have been claimed by two dark groups: the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Russian officials and state media have tried to downplay the significance of Kiev’s thunderous attack on Kursk, but the country’s armed forces have so far failed to drive Ukrainian forces out of the province. Western officials have speculated that Moscow could send troops from North Korea to bolster its efforts to do so, fueling the nearly three-year war and creating geopolitical ramifications as far away as the Indo-Pacific region.

Russian lawmakers on Thursday pact with Pyongyang eyeing mutual military assistance, a move that comes as the US confirmed the deployment of 3,000 North Korean troops to Russia.

North Korean units were detected in Kursk on Wednesday, according to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, known by the acronym GUR. The soldiers had undergone several weeks of training at bases in eastern Russia and were equipped with clothing for the coming winter, GUR said in a statement late Thursday. It provided no evidence for its claims.