ASTANA, October 4. /TASS/. Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s borderline Kursk Region was aimed to provoke a disproportionately harsh response and disrupt any chance of a peaceful settlement in the future, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of CIS Security and Law Enforcement Agencies.

"The incursion of Ukrainian formations into the Kursk Region has yet again demonstrated the criminal essence of the Zelensky regime," Bortnikov said. "Without improving the Ukrainian army’s situation in Donbass, this act was meant from the start to provoke Russia to react in a disproportionately tough way and to eliminate any grounds for settling the conflict in the near future," he explained.

A massive attack on the Kursk Region by the Ukrainian army was launched on August 6. A federal emergency situation regime has been declared in the region, as well as multiple air raid alerts.

Residents from borderline districts are being evacuated to safety. According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, more than 8,000 people have been recognized as affected by the Ukrainian attack on the region.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, since the onset of military actions in the Kursk area, the Kiev regime has lost over 19,800 troops and 135 tanks. The operation on clearing out Ukrainian armed formations continues.