Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Ukraine was carrying out a "large-scale provocation" in the border region of Kursk, where the Russian army was battling Ukrainian fighters for a second day.

"As you know, the Kyiv regime has undertaken another large-scale provocation," Putin said in a televised meeting with government officials. "It is firing indiscriminately from various types of weapons, including rockets, at civilian buildings, residential houses and ambulances."