Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of general staff, has said Ukraine’s cross-border incursion into Kursk has been halted.

President Putin has accused Kyiv of launching a “major provocation”, claiming that some 300 Ukrainian soldiers, supported by tanks and armoured vehicles, had staged a cross-border attack into the Kursk region.

Speaking before a meeting of Putin’s security council in Moscow on Wednesday, the Russian president accused Ukrainian forces of “firing indiscriminately” at civilian buildings and residences.

The incursion began on Tuesday, officials said. Russia’s ministry of defence said there was heavy fighting throughout the day around the villages of Nikolayevo-Daryino and Oleshnya before Ukrainian forces were pushed back to the border by airstrikes and artillery fire. There were reports that fighting was continuing on Wednesday.

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