NEW YORK, August 15. /TASS/. NATO has invaded Russia, Scott Ritter, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector, said, commenting on the situation in the borderline Kursk Region.

"What happened in Kursk is that NATO invaded Russia," he told the Danny Haiphong YouTube channel. "This isn’t ‘Russia invaded Ukraine so that the Ukrainians get to attack Russia.’ No, Russia didn’t invade Ukraine. Russia responded to the Ukrainian war crimes that were put in place after the 2014 Maidan coup," Ritter pointed out.

"The force that’s going in is the force that’s handbuilt by NATO," he emphasized.

Ritter added that the Russian army was learning from the situation in the Kursk Region and would use that experience in the future.

On August 6, Russia’s borderline Kursk Region came under a massive attack from Ukraine. According to the latest reports, 12 civilians have been killed, while 121 people, including ten children, have suffered injuries. 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.