Russia sends troops, tanks to quell Ukrainian ‘invasion’
Russia moved extra tanks, artillery and rocket systems to its southern Kursk region and imposed antiterrorism measures in border areas as it battled a shock incursion by Ukraine’s military.
Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, posted a video purporting to show them in control of a town near the border, the first pictorial evidence of their cross-border advances.
Ukrainians launched a surprise offensive into Russia’s Kursk region on Tuesday, in the most significant attack across the border since Moscow invaded in February 2022.
Influential Russian military bloggers have blasted army leaders for failing to spot or quash the incursion.
Russia’s defense ministry said it was sending rocket launchers, artillery, tanks and heavy trucks to reinforce its troops in the region, state media reported.
In new evidence of the damage inflicted in the Ukrainian counteroffensive, another video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed a convoy of about 15 burnt-out Russian military trucks along a highway in Kursk.
Some had dead bodies.
Nuclear power station
The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said drone debris had fallen on a power substation near Kurchatov, site of one of Russia’s largest nuclear power stations with four reactors.
The International Atomic Energy Agency urged both sides to show restraint in view of the proximity of the conflict to the station, 60 kilometers from the border.
Politicians and the military are referring to a Ukrainian “invasion,” nearly two and a half years after Russia launched its own invasion of its neighbor.
Early on Saturday, Russian news agencies said the National Anti-Terrorism Committee had imposed antiterror measures in Kursk and in nearby Bryansk and Belgorod regions.
Security measures
RIA news agency said the measures included possible displacement of residents, limits on transport, beefed-up security around sensitive sites and wire taps.
Two days after Military chief of staff Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin that the advance had been halted, Russia’s defense ministry said its forces “continue to repel an attempted invasion by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
Interfax news agency quoted the ministry as saying that Russia was sending in columns of reinforcements with Grad multiple-launch rocket systems, artillery and tanks.
The Ukrainian video purported to show Ukrainian forces in control of a gas measuring facility run by Russia’s Gazprom in the town of Sudzha.
“The town is controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the town is calm, all buildings are intact,” a soldier in the video said.
There were unconfirmed reports from Russian sources of Ukrainians pushing as deep as 35 kilometers from the border.
Several Russian media shared a video purporting to show Sudzha residents appealing to President Vladimir Putin for help.
Thousands have been evacuated from the border region.
At a train station in Moscow, AFP heard a woman say, “The war has come to us, so all the relatives have gone to Moscow.” —reports from AFP, REUTERS
