Russian forces foiled cross-border attack attempt from Ukraine, official says

Russian forces have thwarted a new Ukrainian attempt at a cross-border attack on southwestern Russia, months after Kiev launched a bold offensive against its nuclear-armed foe that Moscow is still trying to stop, a local official reported Sunday.

Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said an “armed group” tried to cross the border between Ukraine and Russia’s Bryansk region on Sunday but was repelled. Bogomaz did not say whether Ukrainian soldiers carried out the alleged attack, but claimed Sunday evening that the situation was “stable and under control of the Russian military.”

Local Governor Oleksandr Prokudin claimed that three civilians were killed in Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Sunday. According to the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a Kherson resident died in a fire caused by artillery shells hitting a higher building.

Air raid sirens sounded for more than three hours in Kiev by Sunday, and city officials later reported that “about 10” drones had been shot down. They said no one was injured. Ukraine’s air force reported Sunday that it shot down 41 UAVs launched by Russia over Ukrainian territory.

There has been no confirmation or response from Ukrainian officials yet.

The region borders the Kursk province, where Ukraine launched a surprise attack on August 6 that shook the Kremlin and constituted the largest attack on Russia since World War II. In the first moments of the lightning advance, hundreds of Russian prisoners were blindfolded and put on trucks. and Ukraine’s battle-hardened units quickly advanced across hundreds of square kilometers.