Russia evacuates another border region amid growing threat from Ukrainian units

MOSCOW – Russia on Aug 12 evacuated civilians from parts of a second region next to Ukraine after Ukrainian forces pushed even harder just days after their biggest incursion so far into Russian territories.

Ukraine

rammed through the Russian border on Aug 6

and swept across parts of Russia’s Kursk region, a surprise attack seen as intended to gain leverage in possible ceasefire talks after the November presidential election in the US.

Apparently caught by surprise, Russia said on Aug 11 it had stabilised the front in Kursk, though Ukraine had carved out a sliver of Russian territory where battles were continuing on Aug 12.

In the neighbouring Belgorod region to the south, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said evacuations had begun from the Krasnaya Yaruga district due to “enemy activity on the border”.

“I am sure that our servicemen will do everything to cope with the threat that has arisen,” Mr Gladkov said. “We are starting to move people who live in the Krasnaya Yaruga district to safer places.”

Russia has imposed a tight security regime in the Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions.

Its ally, Belarus, said it was bolstering its troop numbers at its border after Minsk said Ukraine had violated its airspace with drones.

Russian officials say Ukraine’s attacks on Russian territories are aimed at showing its Western supporters that Kyiv can still muster major military operations, while trying to gain a bargaining chip ahead of possible ceasefire talks.

Russia

invaded Ukraine in February 2022

in what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation”. It now controls 18 per cent of Ukraine.

Russian forces, which outnumber Ukraine’s, have been advancing along the 1,000km front after the failure of Ukraine’s 2023 counter-offensive to make any major gains.

Kyiv

broke its silence on the attack on Aug 10

when President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine launched an incursion into Russia to “restore justice” and pressure Moscow’s forces.

Russia said its troops destroyed five drones over Belgorod overnight, 11 over Kursk and two over Voronezh. The Defence Ministry listed considerable heavy weaponry, including tanks, that it said Russian forces had destroyed.

The Ukrainian attack has prompted some in Moscow to question why Ukraine was able to pierce the Kursk region so easily after more than two years of the most intense land war in Europe since World War II.

Russian war bloggers said Ukrainian forces in Kursk were trying to encircle Sudzha, where Russian natural gas flows into Ukraine, while major battles were under way near Korenevo, about 22km from the border.

Russia’s Gazprom said it would send 39.6 million cubic m of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Aug 12.

Moscow said a missile attack on Kursk at the weekend had injured 13 people.

Though the United States said it was not told of the Ukrainian operation before it was unleashed, there were signs in Moscow that the attack would provoke a response from Russia.

“We have no doubt that the organisers and perpetrators of these crimes, including their foreign curators, will bear responsibility for them,” said Ms Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry. “A tough response from the Russian Armed Forces will not take long.”

At the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in a part of Ukraine controlled by Russian forces, a major fire broke out.

“These reckless attacks endanger nuclear safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident. They must stop now,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement, without attributing blame for the attack.

The Russian operator of the plant said Ukraine caused the fire with a military strike but that the reactors were in cold shutdown. Mr Zelensky accused Russia of lighting the fire. REUTERS