The governor of Russia's Kursk region bordering Ukraine said on August 7 that a state of emergency has been declared on day two of an apparent large-scale Ukrainian ground offensive that Russia says is supported by tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery.
"To eliminate the consequences of enemy forces coming into the region, I took the decision to introduce a state of emergency in the Kursk region from August 7," Governor Aleksei Smirnov said on Telegram.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier accused Kyiv of firing rockets at civilian and residential targets in the region amid reports by Russian pro-war bloggers that a number of villages have been captured by Ukrainian forces as they advance into Russian territory.
Speaking during the broadcast of a government meeting on August 7, Putin called the military operation "another large-scale provocation."
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Russia Calls Cross-Border Incursion Into Kursk A 'Provocation' By Ukraine
The Russian military's chief of staff, General Valery Gerasimov, told Putin that Russian forces had halted an advance by up to 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
"The enemy's advance deep into territory in the Kursk direction was stopped by the actions of the units covering the state border together with border guards and reinforcement units, with air strikes, missile and artillery fire," Gerasimov said in televised comments.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a video issued later on August 7 thanked the Ukrainian military, singling out troops along the front line in the areas of Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Lyman, and Kharkiv "and wherever our protection against offensive operations of the occupier continues."
Zelenskiy didn’t mention Kursk but said it was important to continue to destroy the enemy "just as accurately as our soldiers know how and just as effectively as it gives a result."
The more pressure on Russia, the closer peace will be, he said. "Just peace through just force. I thank everyone who ensures this."
Earlier in the day the acting governor of the Kursk region said two people were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike near the town of Sudzha.
Smirnov said on Telegram that a Ukrainian drone struck a moving ambulance, killing the driver and a paramedic, in Sudzha, a town some 10 kilometers from the border.
Neither Putin’s nor Smirnov's claims could be independently confirmed.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that it was up to Ukraine to answer questions about their operations but added that "nothing has changed" about the U.S. policy prohibiting strikes inside Russia using U.S.-supplied weapons except for targeting "imminent threats just across the border."
He also said U.S. officials have reached out to their Ukrainian counterparts to get a better understanding of the situation.
Smirnov also urged residents to donate blood after Russia's Defense Ministry the previous day said up to 300 troops backed by 11 tanks and more than 20 armored fighting vehicles crossed the border into the Kursk region and attacked Russian positions near the settlements of Nikolayevo-Darino and Oleshnya.
Moscow said its forces repulsed the attacks using artillery fire, warplanes, and drones, and the Ukrainian forces retreated after suffering losses.
However, on August 7, pro-Kremlin bloggers reported that Ukrainian forces occupied Nikolayevo-Darino and Sverdlikovo in the Sudzha district.
The bloggers said Ukrainian troops entered Sudzha the day before and were trying to take control of the villages of Goncharovka and Oleshna.
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Kyiv has also not commented on these reports, which could not be independently confirmed.
In Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, a mandatory evacuation is being carried out in 23 settlements located within five communities.
About 6,000 people, including 425 children, have been ordered to evacuate, Governor Volodymyr Artyukh said on Ukrainian television.
Artyukh noted that the situation in the Sumy region was quite tense, and an air alert had lasted for more than a day.
Many of the explosions residents hear are "the work of our air defense," whose coverage of the Sumy region had never been better, he said.
Separately, Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 11 drones launched by Ukraine at four of its regions early on August 7.
"Air-defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed three drones over the Belgorod region, four over the Kursk region, two in the Voronezh region, and two over the Rostov region," the ministry said in a message on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Ukraine reported that its air defenses shot down all 30 drones launched by Russia at seven of its regions.
All Russian drones "were shot down over the Kyiv, Khmelnytskiy, Vinnytsya, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Kharkiv and Cherkasy regions," the air-force commander, General Mykola Oleshchuk, said.
In Kyiv, falling debris from downed drones hit a person, who suffered a shrapnel injury to the leg.
Across the whole Kyiv region, dozens of residential homes and farm buildings were damaged by the debris, the head of Kyiv's regional military administration, Ruslan Kravchenko, reported on August 7, adding that the attack on the capital lasted for more than eight hours.