Russia declared what it described as a “federal-level” emergency on August 9 within the Kursk area, the positioning of a four-day incursion by Ukrainian forces. The announcement got here hours after a Ukrainian army strike on an airfield there.
In response to the incursion, the Russian Protection Ministry mentioned on August 9 that it was transferring additional forces to the area, together with Grad multiple-launch rocket programs, artillery, and tanks, Interfax reported.
State-run media reported on troops and armor being redeployed to Kursk, together with video of Russian army on the transfer, a lot of it reposted on social media.
The cross-border motion in Russia’s Kursk area has been described as the largest assault on Russian soil since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his nation’s unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
WATCH: Scenes of destruction in Russia’s Kursk area proceed to be shared on-line following a shock cross-border incursion. Residents of the area shared movies that seem to indicate lifeless Russian troopers amongst destroyed army autos scattered alongside an area highway.
A lot stays unclear, together with the variety of Ukrainian troopers collaborating, though the Russian army has claimed it includes some 1,000 troops and greater than two dozen armored autos and tanks.
Because the begin of the incursion on August 6, Ukrainian troops have seized management of about 600 sq. kilometers of territory, and greater than two dozen settlements, in keeping with native officers, pro-war bloggers, and open-source intelligence studies.
Ukrainian officers haven’t formally confirmed the operation, however Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mentioned in his night deal with on August 8 that Russia wanted to “really feel” the results of its invasion.
“Russia introduced the struggle to our land and will really feel what it has finished,” Zelenskiy mentioned, with out immediately referring to the offensive.
Ukrainian troopers appeared in a video late on August 9 displaying a Ukrainian flag towards the backdrop of a Gazprom facility in Sudzha, a city simply over the border within the Kursk area. Within the video, which was posted on Ukrainian media, one of many troopers says that Sudzha and the Gazprom facility is managed by Ukrainian forces.
“The information is as follows. The town is managed by the armed forces of Ukraine. The strategic object of Gazprom in Sudzha is managed by the 99th Mechanized Battalion,” the fighters say within the video, which couldn’t be instantly verified.
Sudzha Mayor Vitaly Slashchev denied the declare in a remark to TASS however mentioned an evacuation of town was beneath method.
A Ukrainian member of parliament who spoke with RFE/RL on August 9 mentioned the Ukrainian army was “advancing and making an impression on the enemy” and inflicting injury on Russian forces within the Kursk area.
“And an important factor is that they’re advancing fairly professionally,” lawmaker Roman Kostenko mentioned, including that that they had managed to shock the enemy at a spot the place the Russian forces had been the weakest.
Earlier on August 9 the Ukrainian army mentioned it had hit the airfield in Russia’s southern Lipetsk area in a single day, damaging guided-bomb stockpiles.
“A number of sources of ignition had been recorded, a big hearth broke out and a number of detonations had been noticed,” Kyiv’s army mentioned on the Telegram messaging app.
It mentioned Russian Su-34, Su-35 and MiG-31 plane had been primarily based on the airfield.
Stay Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Stay Briefing provides you all the newest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western army assist, world response, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s protection of the struggle in Ukraine, click on right here.
Russian media, together with TASS, reported a hearth on the army airfield within the Lipetsk area, which is west of the Kursk area, the positioning of the continuing incursion. The studies gave no trigger for the blaze.
These studies got here hours after regional Governor Igor Artamonov mentioned on social media that Lipetsk had hit by a large drone assault. He later added {that a} native energy set up had been broken and 6 folks had been wounded.
Artamonov first urged residents to disregard calls on social media to evacuate, saying they had been being “unfold by the enemy with a purpose to sow panic.” Hours later, he mentioned a state of emergency had been declared within the Lipetsk district and that 4 outlying settlements of Lipetsk metropolis had been ordered to evacuate.
Satellite tv for pc photos made out there to RFE/RL by Planet Labs present the results of Ukrainian strikes on the Lipetsk airfield. The unverified photos present fully destroyed buildings and proof of a giant hearth. Two craters — presumably the results of missile or drone strikes — are additionally seen.
The pinnacle of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, has urged Ukraine and Russia to indicate restraint within the preventing within the Kursk area, website of one among Russia’s largest nuclear energy stations.
“At this juncture, I want to enchantment to all sides to train most restraint with a purpose to keep away from a nuclear accident with the potential for critical radiological penalties,” Grossi mentioned in an announcement.
Russia’s diplomatic mission in Vienna, quoted by Russian information companies, mentioned it had informed the Worldwide Company for Atomic Vitality (IAEA) that fragments had been discovered on the station, presumably from downed missiles, however there was no proof of any direct assault on the power.
Elsewhere, unconfirmed studies spoke of a Russian column having been destroyed within the Kursk area with many casualties. Video circulating on social media confirmed what seemed to be many burned-out army transport autos on the facet of a highway in or close to the city of Rylsk.
Two ethnic Armenians in Kursk who spoke with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service by telephone mentioned the Russian authorities had banned massive gatherings and mass occasions within the area by means of August 11.
“It may be mentioned that we’re at struggle now,” mentioned one of many males, who spoke on the situation of anonymity.
He mentioned Ukrainian troops had captured two cities which can be 60 to 70 kilometers away from town of Kursk along with the Gazprom facility.
“The principle preventing now’s across the cities of Sudzha, Lgov, and Korenevo. Individuals have been evacuated from these areas. We’re inside Kursk. And there may be at all times a threat of missile assaults right here. That is how we reside.”
He mentioned that there had been no evacuation from town of Kursk but, however famous that air-raid alerts had been frequent, leisure venues had been closed, and public transportation had been disrupted by missile and drone strikes.
“Warplanes, missiles are flying overhead. Air-raid alerts are issued each half-hour. However we’re type of used to it, given what has been happening for the previous 12 months or two. Nobody takes cowl as a result of each half-hour missiles or drones strike,” he added.
Individually, the governor of the Russian-held metropolis of Sevastopol on Ukraine’s occupied Crimea Peninsula, Mikhail Razvozhayev, mentioned on Telegram that Russian forces destroyed three drones and three drone boats close to town.
The Russian Protection Ministry mentioned a complete of 75 Ukrainian drones had been destroyed over Russia in a single day, in keeping with the RIA Novosti information company, most of them over the Belgorod and Lipetsk areas.