Russia says still fighting Ukraine units in Kursk border region

Russian troops were Thursday still fighting Ukrainian units in the Kursk border region more than 48 hours after Kyiv mounted a major cross-border attack, the Russian defense ministry said.

It said soldiers "continue to destroy armed Ukrainian army units" with air strikes, rockets and artillery fire targeting troops that have entered two border districts.

An aide in Ukraine's presidential office blamed Moscow for this week's Ukrainian incursion into Russia.

"The root cause of any escalation, shelling, military actions, forced evacuations and destruction of normal life forms -- including within the Russian Federation's own territories like Kursk and Belgorod regions -- is solely Russia's unequivocal aggression," presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said on social media.