Dmitry Medvedev: Kiev will "suffer deserved punishment" for the attack on Russia’s Kursk Region

Russian Defence Ministry report on repelling an invasion attempt of the AFU on the territory of the Russian Federation (14 August 2024):

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to repel the AFU attempt to invade the territory of the Russian Federation.

Active actions of the Sever Group of Forces, Army Aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, and artillery strikes prevented enemy mobile armoured groups from getting into the depth of the Russian Territory near Skrylevka, Levshinka, Semyonovka, Alekseyevskoye, and Kamishnoye.

Two enemy groups on pickup trucks were located and eliminated near Martynovka.

Six attacks launched by units of the AFU 115th Mechanised Brigade, 80th, and 82nd air assault brigades were repelled near Korenevo, Olgovka, Pogrebki, Russkoye Porechnoye, and Cherkesskoye Porechnoye.

Losses were inflicted on the located manpower and hardware clusters of the AFU 22nd, 61st mechanised brigades, 92nd Assault Brigade, and 1st Presidential Operational Brigade near Loknya, Kremyanoye, Oleshnya, Sverdlikovo, and Daryino

Aviation delivered strikes at the AFU reserves near Yunakovka, Sadki, Miropoliye, Khrapovshchina, Mogritsa, and Krovnoye (Sumy region).

Over the past 24 hours, the AFU losses amounted to up to 270 Ukrainian troops, 16 units of armoured hardware, including two tanks, one Stryker armoured personnel carrier, 13 armoured fighting vehicles, 10 motor vehicles, and one 122-mm D-30 howitzer. 18 AFU servicemen were taken prisoner.

Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the enemy lost up to 2,300 Ukrainian troops, 37 tanks, 32 armoured personnel carriers, 18 infantry fighting vehicles, 192 armoured fighting vehicles, 88 motor vehicles, four anti-aircraft missile systems, two MLRS launchers, and 15 field artillery guns.

The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.

Units of the Russian armed forces are in the Kursk city of Sudzha, the enemy does not control the city, there are daily clashes, commander of the Akhmat special forces Apti Alaudinov told Russian media.

"Today there are units of the Russian Defense Ministry in Sudzha. There is an enemy around and in some parts of the city. There are active clashes there every day. The enemy cannot say that he completely controls Sudzha, because he does not really control it," Alaudinov said.

The general mayor also said that Kiev planned to seize the Kursk nuclear power plant on August 11 and use this fact to start negotiations with Moscow with an ultimatum.

"We received very interesting materials — the whole layout of the operation, which was being prepared, by what forces and what was planned. What can I say: on the 11th [of August] it was necessary to take the nuclear power plant in Kurchatov... [Ukrainian President] Zelenskyy's blitzkrieg, which was planned with the seizure of the Kurchatov nuclear power plant and already entering negotiations with an ultimatum... failed," Alaudinov explained.

The task had not been completed, despite all the reserves directed by Kiev in this direction, Alaudinov said.

"Most of the equipment has already been destroyed from what was deployed at the Kursk direction," Alaudinov concluded.

Many Ukrainian militants were captured.

Russian forces on Tuesday struck back at Ukrainian troops with missiles, drones and airstrikes in actions that one senior commander said had halted Ukraine's advance after the biggest attack on sovereign Russian territory since the war began, Reuters informs.

Russian war bloggers reported intense battles across the Kursk front as the Ukrainians tried to expand their control, though they said Russia was bringing in soldiers and heavy weaponry and had repelled many Ukrainian attacks.

Russia's defence ministry published images of Sukhoi Su-34 bombers striking at what it said were Ukrainian troops in the Kursk border region and said it had repelled attacks at villages about 26-28 km (16-17 miles) from the border.

Russian forces had destroyed a total of 35 Ukrainian tanks, 31 armoured personnel carriers, 18 infantry fighting vehicles, and 179 other armoured vehicles during in the week-long battle, it said.

"The uncontrolled ride of the enemy has already been halted," said Major General Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces unit. "The enemy is already aware that the blitzkrieg that it planned did not work out."

Ukrainian incursion is the most serious into Russia since the June 1941 invasion by Nazi Germany.

But by dedicating forces to Kursk, Ukraine may leave other parts of the front exposed just as Russia has been advancing. Russia which has a far larger army, could try to encircle Ukrainian forces.

Putin said the West was using Ukraine to fight a proxy war with Russia and the border incursion was an attempt to undermine Russian domestic stability.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said Zelenskiy was taking crazy steps that risked an escalation far beyond Ukraine's borders.

In Kursk, 121,000 people had already left or have been evacuated and another 59,000 were in the process of being evacuated, local officials said. In Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Kursk, 11,000 civilians were also evacuated, the region's governor said.

Russian artillery fires at invaders.

Former US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan told CNN earlier this week that he expects Russia to take decisive action to push the Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region.

Kiev will "suffer deserved punishment" for the attack on Russia’s Kursk Region, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said.

"Ukraine has made a terrorist sortie into our territory. All assessments were given by the president a few days ago and yesterday... They will certainly suffer deserved punishment for what they have done," Medvedev said at a meeting on the progress of the United Russia party's humanitarian mission in the Kursk Region.

On August 6, Ukrainian forces crossed the border into Russia and launched an offensive in the Kursk Region.

Commenting on the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine had carried out another large-scale provocation, firing indiscriminately at civilian targets. The enemy will receive a proper response in the border regions of Russia, Putin added.

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