Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukraine says it does not want to occupy Kursk as ‘unlike Russia, it does not need other people’s property’ | Russia

As we’ve been reporting, Ukraine launched a surprise incursion with armour and infantry into the Kursk and Belgorod regions of Russia on 6 August, involving thousands of troops amounting to 14 brigades.

While initial details of the attack were murky, both Kyiv and Moscow have now acknowledged the operation into the Russian border regions, while independent analysts have verified claims about the scale of the advance by geolocating images posted by Ukrainian troops.

My colleagues Peter Beaumont, Elena Morresi and Paul Scruton have put together this detailed guide to what we know about the incursion so far:

If you’re just joining us, here are the day’s main developments:

• Ukraine said on Tuesday it had no interest in occupying territory in Russia’s Kursk region and that its major cross-border incursion would complicate Russian military logistics and its ability to send more units to fight in Ukraine’s east. The comments by the Ukrainian foreign ministry’s spokesman come a week after Kyiv’s forces launched a cross-border assault into the western Russian region of Kursk that Ukraine says has seen its forces take control of 1,000 square kilometres of land.

• To read more about Ukraine’s incursion into Russia, see our in-depth analysis here.

• Russia said it summoned a senior Moldovan diplomat on Tuesday to express “serious concern” over media reports – denied by Moldova – about the potential deployment there of F-16 fighter jets supplied by the West to Ukraine. The Russian foreign ministry said Moscow was alarmed by speculation that F-16s could be based at Moldovan airfields and used to launch attacks on Russian territory.

• Moldova’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Chisinau had no plans to host aircraft destined for Ukraine after Russia’s foreign ministry referred to reports that F-16 jets will be based in Moldova. “Moldova does not and will not host weapons and military equipment, including aircraft destined for Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement.

• The Russian army is intensifying its attacks in eastern Ukraine, military authorities said Tuesday, even as the Kremlin’s forces try to check a stunning week long incursion into Russia by Kyiv’s troops. Ukraine’s general staff said on Tuesday that over the previous 24 hours Russian troops launched 52 assaults in the area of Pokrovsk, a town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region that is close to the front line.

• Two people have been killed after Ukrainian forces shelled a bus with civilians in the Russian-held city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday the Tass news agency is reporting, citing Russian-appointed local authorities. Russian-installed officials earlier said that more than 30 people had been wounded in the attack.

• Russia’s defence ministry says it has stopped an attempt by Ukraine to break deeper into the Kursk region and has struck back against Kyiv’s forces in the Sumy region. “Strikes by army aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles, and artillery fire prevented attempts by enemy mobile groups to break through in armoured vehicles deep into Russian territory in the areas of the populated areas of Obshchy Kolodez, Snagost, Kauchuk, and Alekseevsky,” Russia’s defence ministry said in quotes reported by the Interfax news agency.

• Romania’s navy has carried out a controlled explosion of a mine that had drifted to its Black Sea shore, its defence ministry said. Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey have a joint taskforce to defuse stray mines, which began floating in the Black Sea after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

• The UN’s human rights agency is concerned about the possible impact of recent military developments in the war between Russia and Ukraine, its spokesperson said in response to a question about Ukraine’s recent cross-border assault on the Kursk region. “Wherever military operations are occurring by either side, the protection of civilians and civilian objects in accordance with international humanitarian law must be the top priority,” the spokesperson told a briefing.

• Ukraine is restricting the movement of civilians within a 20 km (12 mile) zone in a north-eastern region bordering Russia, Kyiv’s general staff said on Tuesday, as its troops push further into Russian territory amid a week-old surprise offensive. The measure, applying to parts of the Sumy region bordering Russia’s Kursk, was needed due to an “increase in the intensity of hostilities” and the activation of Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the area, it said.

• Russian drones attacked energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s northern region of Chernihiv overnight, national grid operator Ukrenergo said on Tuesday. Ukrenergo said the power was restored to the industrial and household consumers in some areas of Chernihiv region impacted by power cuts after the attack, according to the statement Ukrenergo shared via Telegram messaging app.

• Russia’s air defence units destroyed 14 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting Kursk, Voronezh and Belgorod region, Russia’s news agencies reported on Tuesday. Twelve of the drones were destroyed over the border region of Kursk, and one each over Voronezh and Belgorod regions, RIA agency reported citing Russia’s defence ministry.

• Ukraine pummelled two Russian regions with drones on Tuesday as its ground forces tried to smash through defensive lines in a bid to carve out even more territory in its biggest attack on Russian territory since the war began. Ukrainian soldiers crossed the Russian border, about 530 km (330 miles) south-west of Moscow, a week ago, in a surprise attack that President Vladimir Putin said was aimed at improving Kyiv’s negotiating position ahead of possible talks and slowing the advance of Russian forces along the rest of the front.

• Russia launched 38 attack drones and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Tuesday. Thirty of the drones were destroyed over eight Ukrainian regions, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app. It was not clear what happened to the weapons that were not destroyed, Reuters reported.

• On Tuesday, Russia’s foreign intelligence services accused Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, of taking “insane” steps that threaten to escalate the war far beyond his country, according to a report from Russia’s RIA state news service. It comes as Ukraine’s top military commander says his forces now control 1,000 square km (386 square miles) of the Kursk region, Associated Press reports.

Ukraine said on Tuesday it had no interest in occupying territory in Russia’s Kursk region and that its major cross-border incursion would complicate Russian military logistics and its ability to send more units to fight in Ukraine’s east.

The comments by the Ukrainian foreign ministry’s spokesman come a week after Kyiv’s forces launched a cross-border assault into the western Russian region of Kursk that Ukraine says has seen its forces take control of 1,000 square kilometres of land.

“Unlike Russia, Ukraine does not need other people’s property. Ukraine is not interested in taking the territory of the Kursk region, but we want to protect the lives of our people,” Heorhii Tykhyi, the spokesman, told reporters in Kyiv.

Russia’s defence ministry says it has stopped an attempt by Ukraine to break deeper into the Kursk region and has struck back against Kyiv’s forces in the Sumy region.

“Strikes by army aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles, and artillery fire prevented attempts by enemy mobile groups to break through in armoured vehicles deep into Russian territory in the areas of the populated areas of Obshchy Kolodez, Snagost, Kauchuk, and Alekseevsky,” Russia’s defence ministry said in quotes reported by the Interfax news agency.

Russia also claims to have prevented a Ukrainian attack near Martynovka in the Kursk region, destroying two armoured vehicles and cars carrying 15 service personnel.

The Ukrainian military has not commented on the reports and the Guardian has not been able to immediately verify these claims.