KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s Ministry for Emergencies on Friday declared the situation in the Kursk region a “federal level” emergency, four days after hundreds of Ukrainian troops poured over the border in what appeared to be Kyiv’s biggest attack on Russian soil since the war began.
“The operational situation in the Kursk region remains difficult,” Kursk acting governor Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram.
Social services and civic associations are providing assistance to people forced to flee their homes by the fighting, he said. The last Russian figure for evacuations in Kursk was 3,000.
Little reliable information about the surprise Ukrainian operation has emerged, and its strategic aims are unclear. Ukrainian officials have refused to comment specifically about the incursion, which is taking place about 500 kilometers (320 miles) southwest of Moscow.
But a top adviser to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that border region attacks will cause Russia to “start to realize that the war is slowly creeping inside of Russian territory.” Myhailo Podolyak also suggested that the operation would improve Kyiv’s hand in the event of negotiations with Moscow.
The assault came as the Ukrainian army toils to hold at bay an intense Russian push at places on the front line in eastern Ukraine, especially in the Donetsk region. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear he wants to capture the parts of Donetsk that the Kremlin’s forces don’t already occupy.
Russia declares federal level emergencies when there are more than 500 victims or damage exceeds 500 million rubles (about $6 million).
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, says Ukrainian forces have pressed on with their “rapid advances” deeper into the Kursk region, reportedly going up to 35 kilometers (20 miles) beyond the border.
“The lack of a coherent Russian response to the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk … and the reported rate of Ukrainian advance indicates that Ukrainian forces were able to achieve operational surprise,” the Washington-based ISW said late Thursday.
A Russian Defense Ministry statement Friday said only that the military “continues to repel the attempted invasion” and is responding with airstrikes, artillery and troops on the ground.
Ukraine has also kept up its strategy of hitting rear areas with long-range drones, targeting military sites, oil refineries and other infrastructure.
Ukrainian drones attacked Russia’s Lipetsk region, which is about 300 kilometers (180 miles) from the Ukraine border, during Thursday night, authorities said.
The regional emergencies ministry in Lipetsk said there was a fire at a military airfield where fighter planes including MiG-29s and Su-34s reportedly are based.
Lipetsk governor Igor Artamonov said that unspecified electrical infrastructure was damaged and nine people were wounded in the attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that 75 Ukrainian drones were shot down during the night, 19 of them over Lipetsk.
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