Moscow ordered the evacuation of the district that houses the region's nuclear power plant and its most important city, with 430.000 inhabitants. Military experts believe that Kremlin forces are far from stabilizing the situation. kyiv ruled out wanting to annex territory.
The authorities of the district of bolshesoldatsky from the Russian region of Kursk announced the evacuation of the population in the midst of the surprise Ukrainian attack in the region, which this Tuesday marks a week and which continues to keep the security forces in check. Vladimir Putin.
“Until now there was no evacuation in our district. Those who wanted to left on their own and no one objected to them. “Today we begin to collect data on the people who do need to be evacuated.”wrote the local leader, Vladimir Zaitsev, on his Telegram channel.
In the district of bolshesoldatsky, adjacent to the district of sudja, the first target of the Ukrainian incursion, is home to about 10.000 people.
It is a territory close to the city of Kurchatov, which welcomes Kursk nuclear power plant, already the regional capital, with about 430.000 inhabitants.
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 assured that Ukrainian forces already control 28 towns in Kursk territory, where about 2.000 people live without their fate being known so far. Is difficult to locate all Ukrainian units that roam the region and create distractions, Smirnov added, noting that some use fake Russian IDs.
The governor of the region of Belgorod, adjacent to Kursk, also announced the evacuation of the population of a district near the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine He acknowledged yesterday for the first time that his forces are in Russian territory and assured that within the framework of the operation in Kursk they already control about 1.000 square kilometers.
For its part, Russia declared it had “thwarted” new Ukrainian attacks in the region. In a daily briefing 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 of War Studies (ISW), a think tanks based in Washington, pointed out in his last part that Russian forces are far from stabilizing the situation, partly due to poor command and control. The report cites evaluations carried out by Russian military experts themselves.
Ukraine: “We do not want to annex territories”
In the midst of progress, kyiv assured on the other hand 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 the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Georgiy Tykhy, adding that “Ukrainian actions are absolutely legitimate.”
Zelensky confirmed for the first time that the Ukrainian military is inside the Kursk region. On Telegram, he praised the soldiers and commanders of his country “for their firmness and decisive actions.” He did not give more details.
In his late-night speech on Tuesday, he described the operation as the “disaster of this war” for Moscow. “We can see what is happening with Russia under (President Vladimir) Putin: 24 years ago the Kursk disaster occurred, the symbolic beginning of his Government,” he said, alluding to the sinking of the Russian submarine of that name, in which they died. its 118 crew members. “And now it is clear what the end is for him. Kursk too. The disaster of this war"said Zelensky, who until this Monday had not explicitly referred to the offensive operation that began on Tuesday of last week.
The Ukrainian operation is taking place in absolute secrecy and its objectives remain unclear.. The stunning 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.
Yesterday, Putin He claimed that the incursion, which has caused more than 100.000 civilians to flee, is an attempt by kyiv to stop Moscow's offensive in the Ukrainian region of donbas East and gain weight in possible future peace talks.
Speaking at a meeting with senior security and defense officials on Monday, Putin said the attack that began on August 6 appeared to reflect kyiv's attempt to achieve a better negotiating position in possible future talks to end the war. He insisted that Moscow's army would prevail.
Putin said Ukraine could have expected the attack to cause public unrest in Russia, but that he has not succeeded, and stated that the number of volunteers to enlist in the Russian army has increased due to the assault. He stated that Russian forces will press ahead with their offensive in eastern Ukraine regardless.
“It is obvious that the enemy will continue to try to destabilize the situation in the border area to try to destabilize 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, ensure reliable coverage of the state border.”
hard blow
Russia has seen previous incursions into its territory during the nearly two and a half years of war, but the incursion into the Kursk region marked the biggest attack on its soil since World War II, constituting a milestone in the hostilities. It was also the first time that the Ukrainian military has led a raid instead of pro-Ukraine Russian fighters.
The advance dealt a hard blow to Putin's efforts to pretend that life in Russia has not been affected by the war. State propaganda sought to downplay the attack, emphasizing the authorities' efforts to help the region's residents and attempting to divert attention from the army's inability to prepare for the attack and repel it quickly.
Residents of Kursk recorded videos regretting having to flee the border area, leaving behind his belongings, and begging Putin for help. But the state-controlled Russian media silenced any expression of discontent.
Videos also appeared on Ukrainian social media showing Ukrainian soldiers taking Russian prisoners and planting Ukrainian flags in several locations, including an office of the Russian gas giant Gazprom and the village of Egg.
The position of NATO allies
The fighting inside Russia reignited the doubts 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 hit Russian soil, fearing it would fuel an escalation that could drag Russia and NATO into war.
Although 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 statement could not be independently verified.
Ukraine has already used American weapons to attack inside Russia.
The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, stated in an interview published on Monday that the Weapons provided by his country “cannot be used to attack Russia on its territory.”
For his part, the spokesman for the German Ministry of Defense, Arne Collatz, declared on Monday that legal experts agree that “international law provides that a State that defends itself also defends itself in the territory of the attacker. That is also clear from our point of view.”
Pasi Paroinen, open source intelligence agency analyst Black Bird Group, which is overseeing the war, said the toughest phase of the Ukrainian incursion is likely to begin now, when Russian reserves come into the fray.
(With information from EFE, AP, AFP)
Source: INFOBAE
What a great embarrassment for Putin! David shoveling Goliath.
It would be good for the UN to intervene to find out if the Ukrainians violate the human rights of the Russians; because otherwise they would be endorsing the killing of civilians.