On August 9, Russia declared a “federal state of emergency” in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops have been invading for four days. The declaration came just hours after a Ukrainian military strike on an airfield there.
In response to the incursion, the Russian Defense Ministry said on August 9 that it would deploy additional forces to the region, including Grad multiple rocket launchers, artillery and tanks, Interfax reported.
State media reported on the deployment of troops and tanks to Kursk, including video of the Russian military, many of them reposted on social media.
The cross-border action in Russia’s Kursk region was described as the largest attack on Russian soil since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked major attack on his country’s territory in Ukraine in February 2022.
WATCH: Images of destruction in Russia’s Kursk region continue to be shared online after surprise border crossing Residents in the region have shared videos that appear to show dead Russian soldiers among destroyed military vehicles scattered along a country road.
Much is still unclear, including the number of Ukrainian soldiers participating, although the Russian military claims there are about 1,000 soldiers and more than two dozen armored vehicles and tanks.
Since the incursion began on August 6, Ukrainian troops have taken control of an area of about 600 square kilometers and more than two dozen settlements, according to local officials, pro-war bloggers and open-source intelligence reports.
Although Ukrainian government officials have not officially confirmed the operation, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address on August 8 that Russia must “feel the consequences” of its invasion.
“Russia has brought the war to our country and should feel what it has done,” said Zelensky, without directly addressing the offensive.
Ukrainian soldiers appeared in a video late on August 9 showing a Ukrainian flag against the backdrop of a Gazprom plant in Sudzha, a town just across the border in the Kursk region. In the video, published in Ukrainian media, one of the soldiers says that Sudzha and the Gazprom plant are controlled by Ukrainian forces.
“The news is as follows. The city is controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The strategic object of Gazprom in Sudzha is controlled by the 99th mechanized battalion,” say the fighters in the videowhich could not be immediately verified.
Sudzha Mayor Vitaly Slashchev denied the claim in a comment to TASS, but said an evacuation of the city was underway.
A Ukrainian MP told RFE/RL on August 9 that the Ukrainian military was “advancing and impressing the enemy” and inflicting damage on Russian forces in the Kursk region.
“And the most important thing is that they are moving forward quite professionally,” said MP Roman Kostenko saidand added that they managed to surprise the enemy in a place where the Russian forces were weakest.
Previously, the Ukrainian military had declared on August 9 that it had hit the airfield In the southern Russian region of Lipetsk, a hail of bombs broke out overnight, damaging stocks of guided bombs.
“Several ignition sources were registered, a large fire broke out and several detonations were observed,” the Kyiv military said via the messaging app Telegram.
It was said that Russian Su-34, Su-35 and MiG-31 aircraft were stationed at the airfield.
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Russian media, including TASS, reported a fire at the military airport in the Lipetsk region, west of the Kursk region, where the invasion continues. However, the reports did not specify a reason for the fire.
These reports came hours after the region’s governor, Igor Artamonov, said on social media that Lipetsk had been hit by a massive drone strike, later adding that a local power plant had been damaged and six people injured.
Artamonov initially urged residents to ignore calls for evacuation circulating on social media, saying they were being “spread by the enemy to sow panic.” Hours later, he said a state of emergency had been declared in Lipetsk district and four remote settlements of Lipetsk city had been ordered to evacuate.
Satellite images provided to RFE/RL by Planet Labs show the consequences of Ukrainian attacks on Lipetsk airfield. The unconfirmed images show completely destroyed buildings and traces of a major fire. Two craters – possibly the result of missile or drone attacks – can also be seen.
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, has called on Ukraine and Russia to exercise restraint in the fighting in the Kursk region, where one of Russia’s largest nuclear power plants is located.
“At this point, I would like to call on all sides to exercise the greatest possible restraint in order to avoid a nuclear accident with potentially serious radiological consequences,” said Grossi. said in a statement.
The Russian diplomatic mission in Vienna told Russian news agencies that it had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that fragments had been found at the facility that may have come from missiles that had been fired. However, there was no evidence of a direct attack on the facility.
Unconfirmed elsewhere Reports spoke of the destruction of a Russian column in the Kursk region with numerous casualties. A video circulated on social media that apparently showed many burned-out military transporters on the side of the road in or near the city of Rylsk.
Two ethnic Armenians in Kursk who spoke by phone to RFE/RL’s Armenian service said Russian authorities have banned large gatherings and mass events in the region until August 11.
“You could say we are at war now,” said one of the men, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He said that in addition to the Gazprom plant, Ukrainian troops had captured two towns located 60 to 70 kilometers from the city of Kursk.
“The biggest fighting is currently taking place around the towns of Sudzha, Lgov and Korenevo. People have been evacuated from these areas. We are in Kursk. And here there is always the danger of rocket attacks. This is how we live.”
He said there had been no evacuation from the city of Kursk so far, but noted that there were frequent air raid sirens, entertainment venues were closed and public transport was disrupted by missile and drone attacks.
“Warplanes and missiles are flying overhead. An air raid warning is issued every half hour. But given what has happened in the last year or two, we are used to it. Nobody takes cover because missiles or drones are hitting us every half hour,” he added.
Separately, the governor of the Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol on the Ukrainian-occupied Crimean peninsula, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram that Russian forces had destroyed three drones and three drone boats near the city.
According to the RIA Novosti news agency, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, a total of 75 Ukrainian drones were destroyed over Russia overnight, most of them over the Belgorod and Lipetsk regions.
