Kursk residents tell Putin he is being lied to about attack on Ukraine

“These lies are killing locals. The chief of the general staff recently told you that the situation is under control,” one resident said in the video, according to the Daily Telegraph. Translation from CNN.

“There are fierce battles taking place today in the Sudzhansky and Korenevsky districts,” she added.

The clip was posted on the Native Sudzha channel on the Russian Telegram app, which covers news from the region.

Residents said they had been left homeless by the Ukrainian offensive and added that they had to rely on news from Telegram channels rather than local officials.

Many said they were unable to bring their travel documents or identity cards with them because of the speed with which they had to be evacuated, and added that the authorities should have known that Ukraine was massing troops on the border.

“We were left alone with our children with no place to go, no compensation, no money. We fled with just the clothes on our backs,” one woman said, according to a CNN translation.

A man spoke directly to Putin, claiming that residents of the town of Guivo in the Sudza region were not evacuated by officials and were left trapped in the middle of the fighting.

Guifu is Reported by open source intelligence To be one of more than a dozen Russian villages now under Ukrainian control.

The Russian Defense Ministry and Putin’s press team did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider outside regular business hours.

Ukrainian forces advance into Kursk

Kyiv’s forces launched an incursion into Kursk on Wednesday, with some Ukrainian armored vehicles spotted fighting nine miles inside Russian territory.

Russia said Ukraine launched the attack with about 1,000 troops and about 40 armored vehiclesIncluding tanks. The Kremlin described the attack as a “large-scale provocation.”

About 80 miles to the southeast, Russia launched a similar operation last May, moving forces into Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, opening a new front in the war.

Ukraine has said little about its attack on Russia, though presidential office adviser Mykhailo Podolyak acknowledged the Ukrainian push in comments on social media on Thursday.

“Now, a large part of the world community considers Russia a legitimate target for any operations and types of weapons.” Podolyak wrote on XReferring to the Russian Armed Forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his speech: Thursday speech He added that Russia “should feel what it did” to Ukraine, but did not directly mention the incursion.

At a meeting held by Putin on Wednesday, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces said: Valery Gerasimov reported The Ukrainian advance has stalled, he said, claiming that Kyiv’s forces have suffered heavy losses.

The situation is “under control,” acting Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov told reporters. Statement on Telegram. He urged citizens not to panic.

But Russian sources and footage of the skirmishes at Kursk show that fighting is still intense.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, has been able to geolocate Ukrainian units that broke through Russian defense lines in at least two areas.

“The sky is completely controlled by Ukrainian drones” Military blogger VChK-OPGU wrote:known for his ties to the Russian military, on Thursday.

At the same time, Putin announced a one-time payment of 10,000 rubles, or $115, in relief to Kursk residents affected by the attack. According to official media.