(Reuters) -Russia and Ukraine accused each other of trying to launch cross-border attacks on Tuesday, with each saying its forces had repelled attempted incursions.
Both sides said their forces were in full control of their territory on their own sides of the border and had inflicted losses on enemy troops.
Russia’s Defence Ministry, in a statement reported by Russian news agencies, said Russian forces had thwarted five Ukrainian attempts to push across the border into its southwestern Belgorod region.
“Units of the ‘North’ group of state border protection repelled all attacks with artillery fire and the use of First Person Vision drones,” the Russian statement said.
It said the attacks sought to disrupt talks between Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at reaching a settlement to the three-year-old war. Putin agreed to a month-long halt to strikes against energy infrastructure in Ukraine, a limited ceasefire that Kyiv quickly said it would be willing to consider.
Ukraine’s military, in a statement on the Telegram messaging app, said its forces had “successfully halted all attempts by the occupiers to secure a foothold” inside the Sumy region. The enemy sustained considerable personnel losses.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, visiting Finland, said Russia was seeking to boost pressure on Ukraine by preparing new offensives in Sumy, in Kharkiv region further east and in Zaporizhzhia region to the south.
Ukrainian forces launched a mass incursion into Russia’s Kursk region last August, though Russian troops have recovered much of the territory initially seized and have reported considerable gains against Ukrainian forces over the past week.
Russian forces last year pushed their way into the Kharkiv region and have in recent weeks been intensifying attacks on the Sumy region. Ukrainian reports have noted a buildup of Russian troops near the border with Sumy region.
Russia’s military has also reported making gains in Zaporizhzhia region in recent days.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleskandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Sandra Maler and Rod Nickel)
