kyiv: Russia declared on Sunday that Ukrainian troops had deeply damaged the Kursk border region in an offensive that a senior Ukrainian official said was aimed at “destabilizing” Russia and “stretching” its forces.
Later on Sunday, one country blamed the other for the fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, occupied by Russian forces, even though both sides (as well as the UN nuclear watchdog) said that There were no symptoms of a nuclear leak.
Kyiv has deployed thousands of troops for the marvelous operation, a Ukrainian security official told AFP, taking the lead on the battlefield after months of slow Russian advance in the east.
“The aim is to expand enemy positions, inflict maximum losses and destabilise the situation in Russia, as they cannot cross their own border,” the security official said secretly, on condition of anonymity.
The attack, now in its sixth day, appeared to take the Kremlin by surprise, with Moscow’s army rushing with reserve troops, tanks, planes, artillery and drones to try to weaken it.
But the military appeared to admit Sunday that Ukraine had penetrated its territory at some points up to 30 kilometers (20 miles).
In a briefing on the scenario in the western Kursk region, the Defense Ministry said it had “thwarted attempts” through Ukrainian forces to “penetrate deep into Russian territory” with armored vehicles.
But some of those forces were near the villages of Tolpino and Obshchy Kolodez, approximately 25 and 30 kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border.
The Ukrainian official said Russian claims that Kyiv had deployed 1,000 troops were seriously underestimated.
“It’s much more,” he said. “Thousands. “
“Helicopters over your head”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later blamed Russia for the fire in a cooling tower at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russia said had been the victim of Ukrainian shelling.
Zelensky said in a social media post that “the Russian occupiers started a fire” at the factory, accusing them of trying to “blackmail” Kiev.
“No effect on nuclear safety has been reported,” said a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has experts on site. kyiv and Moscow said there had been no increases in radiation levels.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has waged a relentless campaign, occupying swaths of the east and south and subjecting Ukrainian cities to missile and drone attacks.
After reconquering giant spaces in 2022, kyiv remains largely in the background, suffering with human resources and weapons.
The attack on the Kursk region was therefore the largest and most successful cross-border offensive carried out through Kiev, and the largest attack carried out by a foreign army on Russian territory since the Second War. World.
Russia announced on Saturday that more than 76,000 civilians had been evacuated from border areas and that more would leave on Sunday.
The Russian railway operator has put emergency trains linking Kursk to Moscow, about 450 kilometers away, into operation for those fleeing.
“It’s scary to have helicopters flying overhead all the time,” said Marina, without giving her last name, who arrived in the Russian capital on Sunday to exercise. “When I could leave, I left. “
Kursk Regional Governor Alexei Smirnov admitted on Sunday that the scenario is “difficult. “
On the other side of the border, in the Ukrainian region of Sumy, from where Ukraine began the incursion, AFP journalists on Sunday saw dozens of armored cars painted with a white triangle, the insignia used to identify the Ukrainian army apparatus deployed in the attack.
The “taste” of war
Ukraine’s Sumy region has also faced retaliation and the government’s plan to evacuate about 20,000 more people from the border area.
At an evacuation centre in Sumy, the regional capital, Mykola, a 70-year-old retired metallurgist who had fled his village of Khotyn, about ten kilometres from the Russian border, nevertheless celebrated Ukraine’s advance towards Russia.
“Let them find out what it is,” he told AFP. They do not perceive what war is. That they give it flavor. “
Analysts in Kiev would likely have launched the attack to try to ease pressure on its troops elsewhere along the extensive front line.
But the Ukrainian official said: “Their pressure in the east continues, they are withdrawing their troops from the area”, although “the intensity of Russian attacks has decreased somewhat”.
Russia announced a local state of emergency in the Kursk region, as well as an “anti-terrorist operation” in this region and two other border regions.
The Ukrainian official said he hoped Russia would “ultimately” be able to prevent the incursion.
Ukraine is in favor of retaliating with a large-scale missile strike, adding “against decision-making centers” in Ukraine, the official added.
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