Residents of Kursk in southern Russia, which has come under sudden and relentless attacks by Ukrainian forces, are contradicting President Vladimir Putin's claims that the Russian military has halted their advance in the region, according to a report.
A mix of Ukrainian regular and special forces units began cross-border incursions earlier this week for the first time in the 21/2-year-old war in operations that surprised even U.S. officials, CNN reported.
Putin has been informed by his top military officials that Russian troops have stopped the advance and will push the Ukrainian forces back across the border.
The troops, along with the Russian Federal Security Service, the FSB, said they "continue to destroy Ukrainian armed forces formations in the Sudzhensky and Korenevsky districts of the Kursk region, which are directly adjacent to the Russian-Ukrainian border," CNN reported.
Kursk residents who live in the Sudzhansky District say that's news to them.
They have appealed to Putin for more military help, claiming he has been misled about the Ukrainians' operations and the defense ministry's statements that the advance has been stymied.
"These lies enable the local residents to die. The Chief of the General staff recently told you that the situation is under control, but today huge furious battles are underway in the Sudzhansky and Korenevsky districts," one of the residents said, CNN reported.
"Sudzha was attacked, turned into ruins in a matter of hours. Local administration wasn't working," another said.
The residents say they were forced to flee before the Ukrainian troops' surprise operation without an organized evacuation, which caused them to leave their belongings in their homes and unable to contact family members left behind.
"We escaped under shelling. We were running surrounded by ruins," one resident said.
"We are left alone with children without a place to go, without a compensation, without any money. We escaped with only clothes on our backs," a woman said as tears rolled down her face.
Russia declared the situation in the Kursk region a "federal level" emergency and sent reinforcements there on Friday, the Associated Press reported.
