Ukraine official: two Russian border regions are now active combat zones

(Reuters) - A senior Ukrainian intelligence official said on Thursday that armed groups purporting to be made up of Russians opposed to the Kremlin were pressing an incursion into Russian territory and had turned two border regions into "active combat zones".

Three Ukraine-based groups issued statements saying they were pursuing armed operations in Belgorod and Kursk regions and asking residents to evacuate towns and villages for their own safety.

"Kursk and Belgorod regions are now an area of active combat actions. This is what we confirm," Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the GUR intelligence directorate, told national television.

"And as stated by the volunteers and rebels, we are talking about Russian citizens who, having no other options, are defending their civil right with arms against the Putin regime."

Vyachslav Gladkov, governor of Russia's Belgorod region, said earlier that two people were killed and at least 20 injured in attacks inside the border by Ukrainian armed forces.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it had foiled an attack by the Ukrainian army.

Posting late in the day on Telegram, Gladkov said he was headed to border districts, specifically to the town of Kozinka, to provide a first-hand account of events. Russian military bloggers had earlier reported that Russian paratroops had been dispatched to the town.

Kursk regional governor, Roman Starovoit, gave few details, but noted on Telegram that "Ukrainian terrorists have not stopped their attempts to bring saboteurs into our territory".

One of the three armed groups, the Freedom of Russia Legion, said on Telegram that in view of the "limited military operation" being conducted in the two regions, it was asking residents of certain towns to leave the area.

' A second, the Siberian Battalion, said it had observed "a mood of panic in the town of Grayvoron -- next to Kozinka - with cars queuing to leave.

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Two of the groups had reported launching a cross-border incursion earlier this week.

In the past, Russian officials have cast the groups as puppets of the Ukrainian military and U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which Moscow says is trying to foment chaos in Russia.

The Freedom of Russia legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps have previously claimed responsibility for other cross-border raids into Russia from Ukraine.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Ron Popeski)