Russia: 56 civilians killed in Ukraine's seven-week invasion of the Kursk region

MOSCOW – At least 56 civilians have been killed and 266 injured during Ukraine's seven-week-long incursion into the western Russian region of Kursk, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Kyiv launched the cross-border attack on August 6, more than two years after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. Ukrainian forces remain in the Kursk region.

The Russian Foreign Ministry had previously put the death toll in the period up to September 5 at 31. The new figure covers the period up to September 20.

It was said that 131,000 civilians had left the region's most dangerous areas, but Ukrainian forces were accused of detaining some civilians against their will, including 70 to 120 people in the town of Sudzha.

Ukraine did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Foreign Ministry's remarks.

Reuters could not immediately confirm reports of fighting between the two sides. Both sides denied carrying out attacks on civilians during the 31-month conflict.

Kyiv had previously said its invasion, the largest foreign attack on Russia since World War II, was partly aimed at preventing Russian forces in the region from crossing the border into Ukraine themselves.

Kyiv accused Russia of bombing the Kursk region and called on representatives of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to travel to the region to prove that Ukraine had complied with international humanitarian law during the invasion.

The Kremlin described such statements as “provocative” and made it clear that Moscow expected that the UN and the ICRC would not accept the invitation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month that his forces controlled 100 settlements in the Kursk region, covering more than 1,300 square kilometers. Russian sources disputed that figure and Russia said it had since recaptured some villages in a counterattack REUTERS