* A state-of-emergency has been declared in the Kursk area, as a rare attack by Ukrainian forces across the border continued on Wednesday.
Alexei Smirnov said that the move was needed “to eliminate the effects of enemy forces entering the region”.
Ukraine has launched an offensive with its troops against Russia. This appears to be the biggest and most serious incursion in the country since Moscow began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
On Tuesday, a Ukrainian force of hundreds of soldiers backed by armored vehicles crossed the border into Russia’s Kursk Region.
The Ukrainian troops appear to have captured several settlements around the village Sudzha. They may have advanced as far as 15 km into Russia. Heavy fighting is reported to continue for a second consecutive day.
Local authorities reported that thousands of Russian civilians are being evacuated from the fighting.
The Russian Telegram account VChK – OGPU, which is linked to the Wagner mercenary groups, claimed on Wednesday that a column of Ukrainian soldiers had passed through the village Lyubimovka (about 6 miles inside of the border) and appeared to be moving toward another village Korenovo.
Ukrainian troops are also reported to have entered the border city of Sudzha. Sudzha is a major gas pipeline hub that supplies gas to Europe. The situation for Russian troops continued to deteriorate on Wednesday, and earlier Ukrainian troops entered at least eleven settlements since Tuesday.
Initial claims by the Russian defense ministry claimed that they had repelled the Ukrainian attack, forcing them to retreat. Gen. Valeriy Gestimov, the head of Russia’s general staff, informed Putin on Wednesday that more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers had crossed the border, and that hundreds were killed and injured. On Wednesday, it was clear that the intense fighting continued as Russian officials announced more evacuations of civilians. Local officials in Kursk claim that at least 31 civilians were injured by shelling.
The Ukrainian attack on Russia was clearly the largest one it had ever conducted. Ukraine has launched smaller raids in the past, using Russian groups controlled by Ukrainian intelligence and opposed to the Kremlin. They entered border villages before retreating. This is the first time that Ukrainian military units have invaded Russia in such large numbers.
Source: ABS News
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