MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces cannot claim that they control Sudzha even as active fighting is taking place in the town in the borderline Russian region of Kursk, said Major-General Apty Alaudinov, the deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry, commander of the Akhmat commando unit.

"There are units from the Russian Defense Ministry, too, in Sudzha now, as the enemy is in and around certain parts of the town. Active fighting has been taking place daily there. The enemy cannot claim full control of Sudzha because they [Ukrainian troops] do not actually control it," Alaudinov told Channel One television.

The Russian commander said that even as Ukrainian forces do control some settlements in the Kursk Region, the number of enemy troops or means there is scarce, and the Russian Army records that. "They think that if 20 to 30 Ukrainian fighters have entered a locality they can claim control of it. But it can be under their control until we start squeezing the enemy out of our land. And we will certainly go beyond that," he concluded.

On August 6, Russia’s borderline Kursk Region came under a massive attack from Ukraine. Shelling and drone strikes killed 12 civilians and injured 121 people, including ten children. Over 120,000 people have either left or been evacuated from the Kursk Region. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev has lost up to 2,030 troops, 35 tanks and 31 armored personnel carriers since fighting began in the Kursk area.