(Reuters) -At least 56 civilians have been killed and 266 wounded during Ukraine’s seven-week-old incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Kyiv began the cross-border attack on Aug. 6, more than two years after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, and Ukrainian forces remain in the Kursk region.
The Russian Foreign Ministry had earlier put the death toll at 31 in the period to Sept. 5. The new toll covered the period up to Sept. 20.
It said 131,000 civilians had left the most dangerous areas of the region but accused Ukrainian forces of holding some civilians against their will, including 70-120 people in the town of Sudzha.
Asked by Reuters about the statement, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi said Ukraine abides by international humanitarian law and does not target civilians, and that it was unable to verify the assertions.
“Given Russia’s long history of false numbers and propaganda, there is simply no way of verifying their claims. If Russia wants to show the real situation on the ground it can grant such access to the UN and ICRC,” he said.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield reports from either side. Both sides have denied targeting civilians and making false claims for propaganda purposes during the 31-month-old conflict.
The Kremlin has previously made clear it regards Ukraine’s invitation to the United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross to the Kursk region as “provocative”, and that Moscow expects the UN and ICRC not to accept the invitation.
Kyiv has said its incursion, the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two, is intended partly to prevent Russian forces in the area launching their own incursion across the border into Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier this month that his forces controlled 100 settlements in Kursk region over an area of more than 1,300 sq km (500 sq miles). Russian sources disputed this figure and Russia says it has since taken back some villages in a counter-attack.
(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Timothy Heritage)
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