Russia declares an emergency in Kursk, thwarts Ukrainian attack
Russia declared a “federal-level” emergency in the Kursk region following an attempt of large-scale incursion from Ukraine and sent reinforcements there on Friday, four days after Ukrainian troops crossed the border in what appeared to be Kyiv’s biggest attack on Russian soil.
Russian fighters too launched missile attacks into Ukrainian one of which hit a shopping mall killing at least 14 people and wounding 44 others, authorities said. The mall is located in Kostiantynivka, in the eastern Donetsk region. Thick black smoke rose above it after the strike.
“This is another targeted attack on a crowded place, another act of terror by the Russians,” Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin said in a Telegram post.
It was the second major strike on the town in almost a year. Last September, a Russian missile hit an outdoor market there, killing 17.
July saw the heaviest civilian casualties in Ukraine since October 2022, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said Friday. Conflict-related violence killed at least 219 civilians and injured 1,018 in July, the mission said. Probably Ukraine failed to anticipate retalitory strikes when they started their attack on Kursk.
Russia’s Defence Ministry sent reinforcements to Kursk to counter Ukraine’s raid, with Russia deploying multiple rocket launchers, towed artillery guns, tanks transported on trailers and heavy tracked vehicles.
The ministry reported fighting in the western outskirts of Sudzha, about 10 kilometers from the border. The town has an important pipeline transit hub for Russian natural gas exports to Europe.
“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 those evacuated from Kursk was 3,000.
There has ben little reliable information on the attempted Ukrainian operation and its aims are unclear. Ukrainian officials have refused to comment on the incursion, which is taking place about 500 kilometers 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.
Asked about Ukraine’s incursion, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday the United States was “in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts” but that he would not comment until “those conversations are complete.”
“There’s been no changes in our policy approaches,” Kirby said when asked if there had been a change in U.S. policy on use of weapons. “They’re using it in an area where we had said before that they could use U.S. weapons for cross-border strikes. The end goal here is to help Ukraine defend itself.”
Though Ukrainians actions appear to be confusing and more of a harakiri.
The Ukrainian army is struggling to hold at bay an intense Russian push at places on the front line in eastern Ukraine, especially in the Donetsk region. Russia has made clear it wants to capture the parts of Donetsk that the Kremlin’s forces do not already occupy.
Russia declares federal level emergencies in situations when there are more than 500 victims or damage exceeds 500 million rubbles (about $6 million).
The Kursk fighting has earned considerable attention in Russian media, at the top of news websites and state television news broadcasts.
State TV channel Rossiya-1 devoted its first 10 minutes of its 11 a.m. newscast Friday to the situation, running Defence Ministry’s video showing the destruction of Ukrainian military vehicles and a howitzer.
Much of the coverage was about the humanitarian situation — children being taken to shelters aboard buses, people in other regions gathering food and diapers and other supplies to be sent to Kursk.
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 beyond the border.
Russian tanks have taken up firing positions to wipe out Ukrainian mobile armoured groups in the borderline part of the Kursk Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said
A Russian Defence Ministry statement Friday said Russia’s military “continues to repel the attempted invasion” and is responding with airstrikes, artillery and troops on the ground. Ukrainian armed forces have lost 945 soldiers and 102 armoured vehicles, including 12 tanks, in the assault.
Ukraine has also kept up its strategy of hitting rear areas with long-range drones, targeting Russian military sites, oil refineries and other infrastructure but starts whimpering when there is retaliation.
Ukrainian drones attacked Russia’s Lipetsk region, about 300 kilometers from the Ukraine border, on Thursday night, authorities said.
Drones operated by Ukraine’s Security Service claimed hit on a military airfield there, a security official told the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The airfield was a base for fighter jets and helicopters and more than 700 powerful glide bombs in storage,” the official said.
Ukraine’s Army General Staff also confirmed the strike on Lipetsk-2 airfield Friday morning, saying it was used as a base for multiple Su-34, Su-35 and MiG-31 jets.
The Russian Defence Ministry said that 75 Ukrainian drones were shot down during the night, 19 of them over Lipetsk.
