Authorities in the Bolshesoldatsky district of Russia’s Kursk region announced the evacuation of the population amid the surprise Ukrainian attack in the region, which is one week old on Tuesday and continues to keep Vladimir Putin’s forces in check.
“There has been no evacuation in our district so far. Those who wanted to leave on their own, and no one was hindering them. Today we started collecting data on people who do need to be evacuated,” local leader Vladimir Zaitsev wrote on his Telegram channel.
About 10,000 people live in the Bolshesoldatsky district, which borders the Sudzha district, the first target of the Ukrainian incursion.
This is an area close to the city of Kurchatov, home to the Kursk nuclear power plant and the regional capital, with a population of around 430,000.
The governor of the region, Alexei Smirnov, acknowledged yesterday that some 121,000 people have already been evacuated from the border areas with Ukraine and another 60,000 would be moved to safer places later.
Smirnov also said that Ukrainian forces now control 28 villages in Kursk territory, where about 2,000 people live, their fate unknown. It is difficult to track all the Ukrainian units roaming the region and creating distractions, Smirnov added, noting that some use fake Russian IDs.
The governor of the Belgorod region, adjacent to Kursk, also announced the evacuation of the population of a district close to the Ukrainian border.
Smirnov also said that Ukrainian forces now control 28 villages in Kursk territory, where about 2,000 people live, their fate unknown. It is difficult to track all the Ukrainian units roaming the region and creating distractions, Smirnov added, noting that some use fake Russian IDs.
The governor of the Belgorod region, adjacent to Kursk, also announced the evacuation of the population of a district close to the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine acknowledged yesterday for the first time that its forces are on Russian territory and said that as part of the Kursk operation they already control some 1,000 square kilometres.
Russia, meanwhile, said it had “thwarted” further Ukrainian attacks in the region. In a daily report today, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had “thwarted attempts by enemy mobile groups in armored vehicles to penetrate deep into Russian territory” around several villages.
However, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, noted in its latest report that Russian forces are far from stabilising the situation, in part due to poor command and control. The report cites assessments by Russian military experts themselves.
Ukraine: “We do not want to annex territories”
Amid the progress, kyiv has also assured that it does not intend to “annex” Russian territories. “Unlike Russia, Ukraine does not need foreign property. Ukraine does not want to annex any territory in the Kursk region, but it wants to protect the lives of its people,” said Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy, adding that “Ukrainian actions are absolutely legitimate.”
Zelensky confirmed for the first time that Ukrainian soldiers are inside the Kursk region. On Telegram, he praised his country’s soldiers and commanders “for their steadfastness and decisive actions.” He gave no further details.
In his evening address on Tuesday, he described the operation as the “disaster of this war” for Moscow. “We can see what is happening to Russia under (President Vladimir) Putin: 24 years ago there was the Kursk disaster, the symbolic beginning of his government,” he said, referring to the sinking of the Russian submarine of that name, in which its 118 crew members died. “And now it is clear what the end is for him. Kursk too. The disaster of this war,” said Zelensky, who until Monday had not referred explicitly to the offensive operation that began on Tuesday of last week.
The Ukrainian operation is taking place in the utmost secrecy and its objectives remain unclear. The astonishing maneuver, which caught Kremlin forces off guard, counters Russia’s relentless effort in recent months to pierce Ukrainian defenses at selected points along the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Putin said yesterday that the incursion, which has forced more than 100,000 civilians to flee, is an attempt by kyiv to stop Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and gain leverage in possible future peace talks.
Speaking at a meeting with top security and defense officials on Monday, Putin said the attack that began on Aug. 6 appeared to reflect kyiv’s attempt to gain a better negotiating position in possible future talks to end the war. He insisted that Moscow’s military would prevail.
Putin said Ukraine might have hoped the attack would cause public unrest in Russia, but it has failed to do so, and claimed the number of volunteers to enlist in the Russian military has increased because of the assault. He said Russian forces will press ahead with their offensive in eastern Ukraine regardless.
“It is obvious that the enemy will continue to try to destabilise the situation in the border area in order to try to destabilise the internal political situation in our country,” Putin said. Russia’s main task is “to expel the enemy from our territories and, together with the border service, to ensure reliable coverage of the state border.”
Hard blow
Russia has seen previous incursions on its territory during the nearly two-and-a-half-year war, but the raid in the Kursk region marked the largest attack on its soil since World War II, marking a turning point in hostilities. It was also the first time the Ukrainian military has led an incursion instead of pro-Ukraine Russian fighters.
The advance dealt a blow to Putin’s efforts to pretend that life in Russia has not been affected by the war. State propaganda tried to downplay the attack, emphasizing the authorities’ efforts to help residents of the region and trying to divert attention from the army’s failure to prepare for the attack and repel it quickly.
Kursk residents recorded videos lamenting their need to flee the border area, leaving their belongings behind, and pleading with Putin for help. But state-controlled Russian media silenced any expressions of discontent.
Videos also appeared on Ukrainian social media showing Ukrainian soldiers taking Russian prisoners and planting Ukrainian flags in several localities, including an office of Russian gas giant Gazprom and the village of Guevo.
The position of NATO allies
The fighting inside Russia has revived questions about whether Ukraine was using weapons supplied by NATO members. Some Western countries have been reluctant to allow Ukraine to use its military aid to strike Russian soil, fearing it would fuel an escalation that could drag Russia and NATO into the war.
While it is unclear what weapons Ukraine is using across the border, Russian media widely reported the presence of American Bradley and German Marder armored infantry vehicles. This claim could not be independently verified.
Ukraine has already used US weapons to attack inside Russia.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in an interview published on Monday that the weapons provided by his country “cannot be used to attack Russia on its territory.”
German Defence Ministry spokesman Arne Collatz said on Monday that legal experts agree that “international law provides that a state that defends itself also defends itself on the territory of the attacker. That is also clear from our point of view.”
Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Finland-based open-source intelligence agency Black Bird Group, which monitors the war, said the toughest phase of the Ukrainian incursion was likely to begin now, when Russian reserves come into play.
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