The district borders Kursk, where kyiv soldiers carried out a raid and claimed the capture of 74 towns. Moscow announced the sending of reinforcements to face the offensive on Russian soil
The Russian region of Belgorod declared on Wednesday the state of emergency throughout its territory, which borders the region of Kursk, where Ukrainian troops have been carrying out an offensive since the 6th and claimed the taking of 74 locations.
“The situation in our region of Belgorod remains extremely difficult and tense due to shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces. “Houses were destroyed, civilians were killed and injured,” wrote its governor. Vyacheslav Gladkov on Telegram.
“In order to ensure greater protection for the population and provide additional support to the victims, The state of emergency will be established at the regional level” starting Wednesday, he said.
The governor added that will ask the Russian Government to declare the region in a state of emergency at the federal level.
After almost two and a half years of war, kyiv tries to bring the conflict to Russian territory and on August 6 launched a large-scale operation in the region of Kursk which surprised the Russian troops.
In the region of Belgorod, as in the neighbors of Kursk y Bryansk, all of them bordering Ukraine, since Friday the ““anti-terrorist operation regime”, implemented by federal authorities.
The Russian military command has announced the sending reinforcements to the Kursk region to confront the Ukrainian offensive, the first attack by ground forces on Russian territory in almost two and a half years of war.
kyiv claims progress in Kursk
According to kyiv, in just eight days Ukrainian troops have taken control of more than 1.000 square kilometers of the territory of the Kursk region.
For comparison, Russia gained 1.360 km2 in Ukrainian territory since January 1, 2024, according to calculations based on data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which is based on Russian sources.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, admitted on Tuesday that he had “difficult and intense” combats in this area, which is the largest incursion by a foreign army into Russian soil since the end of World War II.
Zelensky assured that “There are 74 towns under the control of Ukraine” and that “hundreds” of Russians were taken prisoner.
According to the commander of his army, Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukrainian troops advanced “between one and three kilometers” in some points during the day and took control of an additional “40 km2.” The day before, Syrsky stated that they controlled 1.000 km2 of Russian territory.
For their part, the Russian forces stated that they had “disrupted” Ukrainian “attempts to penetrate deeply” into Kursk.
But the regional governor, Alexei Smirnov, acknowledged that there were lost control of 28 locations and pointed out that the Ukrainian operation covers an area 40 kilometers wide and 12 kilometers deep in Russian territory.
“Just peace”
The spokesperson of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Georgi Tiji, assured on Tuesday that he does not wish to annex any territory taken during the military operation in Kursk and that this will cease if Moscow accepts a “just peace.”
Since February 2022, the former Soviet republic has faced the military operation launched by Moscow, which occupies up to 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014.
The Negotiations between kyiv and Moscow are completely blocked due to their difficult to reconcile demands.
Zelensky said he wanted to develop a plan before the November presidential elections in the United States, its main ally, to serve as the basis for a future peace summit that includes the Kremlin.
For his part, his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, made it a condition for negotiations that kyiv give up the territories occupied by Moscow's troops and renounce joining NATO, unacceptable requirements for Ukraine and its Western allies.
The Russian leader on Monday accused Ukraine of carrying out the operation in Kursk to "improve its position in future negotiations."
Boost to morale
The Ukrainian incursion has forced the evacuation of more than 120.000 people. It has also caused the death of 12 civilians and more than a hundred injured, according to Russian regional authorities.
For kyiv's forces, after months on the defensive and giving ground to a larger and better-armed enemy, the operation is a boost in morale.
“There were no significant victories in Ukraine in recent months. Only the Russians were advancing,” he told the AFP under anonymity a commander in a field in the Sumy region, surrounded by tanks ready to go into action.
Another soldier in that area who participated in the attack assures the AFP which “the Russians fled” with their entry into Kursk. Full of optimism, he swears that they will “hold the ground.”
(With information from AFP and EFE)
Source: INFOBAE