Belgorod, a Russian border region, declared an emergency on Wednesday in response to additional attacks by Ukrainian soldiers, with Kyiv claiming possession of hundreds of square miles of Russian territory following its rare cross-border incursion.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov stated in a video message broadcast on his Telegram account that the situation in the Belgorod region remains extremely difficult and tense.
The proclamation came after Belgorod began evacuations on Monday in response to Ukrainian advances, which followed Kyiv’s unexpected entry into the nearby Kursk area the previous week.
It was a significant shift in tactics for Ukraine, as it was the first time foreign troops had entered Russian territory since World War II.
Gladkov added that regional officials are now urging the Russian government to declare a federal emergency.
Two locations in Belgorod, the city of Shebekino and the village of Ustinka, had been attacked by Ukrainian drones, he added. There were no casualties but two residences were damaged.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry said Wednesday that it destroyed dozens of drones and four tactical missiles over the Kursk region, part of a barrage including 117 “aircraft-type” drones downed by the country’s air defenses overnight.
The southwest region of Voronezh, which borders both Kursk and Belgorod, “destroyed more than 35 Ukraine-launched drones,” Gov. Aleksandr Gusev said Wednesday.
He noted that while there were no injuries, falling debris damaged houses, automobiles, and municipal infrastructure, and that the possibility of more drone assaults exists.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin convenes a meeting with security officials and provincial governors via video link at a house outside Moscow on August 12, 2024, to examine the situation in the country’s south following an incursion by Ukrainian soldiers.
Tens of thousands of Russians have fled their homes since Ukraine’s incursion began, while Moscow scrambles to limit the attack, launching counter-terror operations in Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk, another border province.
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