"First of all, we started evacuating people after assessing the situation. It was quite a difficult issue because the Ukrainian armed forces and the sabotage and reconnaissance group were shelling civilian population, were shelling ambulances, who at the cost of their own lives, sacrificing themselves ... were evacuating people," Smirnov told the meeting.
He added that several medical personnel were killed in Ukraine's shelling in the border areas of the Kursk Region.
The acting governor thanked Putin for support for the region, adding that the Russian government and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin were providing their constant support.
Putin, in turn, said that he was generally familiar with the situation in the Kursk region. The situation in the region requires courage and composure from the regional leader, as experience alone is not enough, the president added.
On Wednesday, Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported that on August 6, at 5:30 AM, Ukrainian Armed Forces units, numbering up to a thousand troops, launched an offensive aiming to capture territory in the Kursk region. He noted that their advance into Russian territory was halted. Gerasimov emphasized that the operation in the Kursk region will conclude with the defeat of the enemy and the establishment of control up to the state border. On Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Ukrainian forces attempting to advance in the Kursk region had already lost 660 military personnel and 82 armored vehicles over two days, including eight tanks, 12 APCs, six IFVs, and 55 armored vehicles.
Commenting on the situation in the Kursk region, President Vladimir Putin stated that the Kiev regime had launched another large-scale provocation, indiscriminately firing, including at civilian targets. Svetlana Petrenko, an official representative of the Russian Investigative Committee, reported that after the Ukrainian attack on the border area in the Kursk region, cases were initiated, including those related to terrorism and murders; Russian investigators are identifying Ukrainian military personnel who issued and carried out orders to strike civilian targets in this region.