Ukrainian forces crossed the Russian border early Tuesday morning and overran parts of Russia’s western Kursk region. Supported by drones and heavy artillery fire, Ukrainian units moved quickly to seize territory on Russia’s western border, sending saboteurs deeper into Russia, according to Russian military bloggers.

“Armed forces continue to repel attempts by Ukrainian armed forces to penetrate,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday, adding that fierce battles were concentrated around Malaya Loknya, Olgovka and Ivashkovskoye.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video showing Russian Su-30SM and Su-35S fighter jets carrying smart bombs attacking a group of Ukrainian military personnel and military equipment in the border area of ​​the Kursk region.

"Squadrons of Su-30SM and Su-35S multirole super-maneuverable fighters with controlled thrust vectoring of the Aerospace Forces carried out a night attack on a concentration of personnel and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the border area of ​​the Kursk region," the report said.

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Video released by the Russian Defense Ministry shows Russian Su-30SM and Su-35S fighter jets attacking Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.

In a sign of the seriousness of the situation, Russia imposed a full security regime in three border regions on Saturday, while Belarus said it had repelled what it said was a major drone attack from Ukraine.

Alexander Bortnikov, Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), has ordered the introduction of an anti-terrorist regime in the Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions - which cover a total area of ​​nearly 92,000 square kilometers.

Russian military bloggers said on Saturday that the situation had stabilized after Russia quickly mobilized powerful forces and hardware to stop Ukraine's surprise offensive, although they said the enemy was also rapidly building up its forces.

The Ukrainian offensive has led some in Russia to question how Ukraine was able to so easily penetrate the Kursk region after more than two years of the fiercest land war in Europe since World War II.

Videos posted on Ukrainian media showed Ukrainian soldiers taking control of a gas metering facility in the border town of Sudzha, where Russian natural gas flows into Ukraine for shipment to Europe.

Some reports say Ukrainian forces are advancing toward the Kursk nuclear power plant, which supplies much of southern Russia with electricity. The plant has six reactors in total, two of which are offline, two under construction, and two of which are operational.

A downed Ukrainian missile landed on a residential building in Kursk, Russia, causing a fire, acting regional governor Alexey Smirnov said. Kursk mayor Igor Kutsak said he was at the scene and several cars were damaged by the missile.

The head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency has noted "significant military activity" in the area and called for restraint. Russian diplomats in Vienna told the IAEA they had found debris that may have come from a downed missile.

Huy Hoang (according to TASS, Sputnik, Reuters)