Russian President Vladimir Putin today held a meeting with high-ranking officials on the situation in the Russian regions bordering Ukraine, after Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk region on August 6, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
In Ukraine's lightning-quick invasion of Kursk Oblast - the largest by another country in Russia since World War II - thousands of Ukrainian troops entered the western Russian region, seemingly catching Moscow off guard, according to Reuters.
Since then, fierce fighting has been going on in the Kursk region, with Russian forces trying to push back Ukrainian troops, who are trying to regroup and expand Russian territories under their control.
"We have gathered to discuss the situation that is currently developing in the border regions of Russia," Putin said at the opening of the meeting.
First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said that Russia is assessing the damage to agriculture and industry in the border areas.
The acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, indicated that 133,190 people had left or been evacuated from the region. Putin asked Smirnov whether cooperation with law enforcement and defense agencies was yielding results. Smirnov answered positively.
Governor of the Bryansk Region, Alexander Bogomaz, told Putin that border guards from the Federal Security Service and Russian military units repelled an attempt by a Ukrainian sabotage-intelligence group to infiltrate the region yesterday.