The Russian government began evacuating residents of the Belgorod region on Monday in response to the ongoing Ukrainian military incursion across the border.
Russian state media Shown At least 11,000 people will have to abandon their homes in Belgorod temporarily as Ukrainian forces strengthen their presence in neighboring Kursk, where Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on August 6 condemned a “serious provocation” by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not directly discussed details about invading Russia, but in recent comments he suggested Russia would have to “experience war” to understand the gravity of its invasion of Ukraine, and on Saturday he acknowledged in vague comments that Kiev was “putting pressure on the aggressor.”
Putin’s regime launched an invasion of Ukraine in 2014, “annexing” the Crimean Peninsula. In February 2022, Russia escalated its support for unstable separatist groups in the region into a full-scale invasion that continues to this day, intended to topple President Zelensky. Banishment Zelenskiy, who installed pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as president in 2014, took office in 2019 in elections widely seen as free and fair, and was not involved in the crisis surrounding Yanukovych. comedian at that time.
“In the interest of public health and safety, we are beginning to move people living in Krasnoyarzhsky to safer places,” Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Announced In a statement on Monday, encrypted messaging app Telegram said: The Moscow TimesA Russian spokesman who translated the message estimated that more than 76,000 people had been evacuated from the cities of Volgorod and Kursk, where fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces was believed to be ongoing at the time of writing. Kursk leaders also expanded existing evacuation procedures.
Russian military leaders reportedly redeployed forces to both regions, as well as to a third neighboring region, Bryansk, on Friday in response to an increased Ukrainian military presence on Russian territory.
Thousands of Ukrainian troops invade Russia with aim to ‘destabilise’ it: officialhttps://t.co/6g3oNKToGe
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Putin Dealt with On Monday, he promised Ukraine an “appropriate response” to its military operations, and also suggested he expected Ukrainian forces to threaten Bryansk soon.
“Even if the situation in Bryansk Oblast is relatively calm today, that does not mean that it will remain the same tomorrow,” Putin said, according to Russian state media Sputnik. “I ask law enforcement agencies, together with the headquarters that the FSB will set up with the support of Russian intelligence, to handle this situation very carefully.”
“The most important thing now is to resolve the urgent problems that have arisen at the moment,” Putin said, calling on government officials to “ensure the anti-terrorism posture and wage an effective fight against enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups.”
Another Russian news agency, TASS, said: Reported Officials recorded 17 deaths and more than 230 wounded “along the war line,” including 98 in Kursk and 70 in Belgorod, on Monday.
Russian officials confirmed on August 6 that Ukrainian troops were present in Kursk and estimated that several hundred soldiers had crossed the border. By Friday, Moscow had declared a federal state of emergency over the situation in Kursk, signaling that the war was spreading into Russia, though Ukraine has not publicly acknowledged it.
“A large part of the world community is [the Russian Federation] It is not a legitimate target for any operations or weapons,” Mykhailo Podoljak, a top adviser to Zelenskyy, wrote on social media.
Zelensky himself said last week that Russia started the war “and it should know what it has done,” a comment interpreted by many as an endorsement of the ongoing attack on Kursk.
Russia launches “counterterror” operation in response to invasion of Ukrainehttps://t.co/BQpQYz4T5N
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 10, 2024
Zelensky said in an official statement on Saturday that he would continue “pressure on the aggressors,” state media Ukrinform reported. Reported President Zelensky received a report from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on the “expansion of the war into the territory of the aggressor.” Identified It named Belgorod and Kursk as areas Russia uses to bomb civilian areas across the country, justifying the need to enter there.
ForbesCiting local Russian reports, said It was reported on Sunday that there was growing evidence that Ukrainian troops were digging trenches in Kursk, indicating they expect a long-term presence on Russian territory. Forbes Ukraine has deployed “up to five 2,000-man brigades and at least one 400-man independent battalion” and “industrial excavators” to Kursk, the report said. If the entrenchments are successful, it could lead to months of fighting to take Kursk, and if successful, Ukraine could expand its attacks to other areas, such as Belgorod.
of The Moscow Times They reported growing fear and anger toward the Russian government among the refugees in Kursk.
“Nobody cared about us,” one resident said. lamented“Refugees from ‘that country’ were given everything at once… and [local] People were left with nowhere to go and nothing.”
The anonymous person was referring to Ukrainians from “annexed” areas that Putin has tried to expel to Russia to consolidate control over the regions in question.
“Why did the state allow this? If they can’t protect the residents then they should evacuate them. And as a result there are more casualties,” said another resident.
