Russia has moved extra armour and artillery including rocket launchers to the southern Kursk region and imposed anti-terrorism measures in border areas as it battled a shock incursion by Ukraine’s military. Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, posted a video purporting to show them in control of a town near the border, the first pictorial evidence of their cross-border advances. In new evidence of the damage inflicted in the Ukrainian counter-offensive, another video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed a convoy of about 15 burnt-out Russian military trucks spaced out along a highway in the Kursk region.
The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said drone debris had fallen on a power substation near Kurchatov, site of one of Russia’s largest nuclear power stations with four reactors. Power to the area was cut for a time. The head of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency urged both sides to show restraint in view of the proximity of the conflict to the station, 60 km from the border.
Russian diplomats in Vienna told the IAEA that fragments, possibly from downed missiles, had been found, though there was no evidence of an attack on the station. Ukrainian forces broke across the border on Tuesday in a thrust that caught the Russian military by surprise after months of gradual advances in eastern Ukraine by Moscow’s forces.
Politicians and the military are referring to a Ukrainian “invasion”, nearly two and a half years after Russia launched its own full-scale invasion of its neighbour. Early on Saturday, Russian news agencies said the National Anti-Terrorism Committee had imposed anti-terror measures in Kursk region and in nearby Bryansk and Belgorod regions.
The statement said the decision, taken by Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB intelligence service, was in response to Ukraine’s “unprecedented attempt to destablise the situation in a series of regions”.
RIA news agency said the measures included possible displacement of residents, limits on transport, beefed-up security around sensitive sites and wire taps. Two days after Military Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin that the advance had been halted, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces “continue to repel an attempted invasion by the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.
The Russian Defence Ministry said that in the previous 24 hours, Russian troops, air strikes and artillery had “suppressed raid attempts by enemy units deep into Russian territory in the Kursk direction”. Adding that Ukraine had lost as many as 945 soldiers and 102 armoured vehicles in total, but did not mention Russian losses. On Wednesday, Gerasimov had said the Ukrainian attack was mounted by up to 1,000 troops.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
