The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, citing an “extremely difficult” situation due to shelling by Ukrainian forces. The border area borders Russia’s Kursk region, where Kiev’s forces rushed in last week, catching Moscow’s forces off guard. It was the largest incursion by a foreign army onto Russian soil since the end of World War II.
“The situation in our Belgorod region remains extremely difficult and tense due to the shelling of the Ukrainian armed forces. Houses have been destroyed, civilians have died and been injured,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram. “A state of emergency will be declared at the regional level” from Wednesday, he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday claimed control of 74 towns in Russian territory, where his forces launched a surprise offensive last week in the Kursk border region. Emergency evacuation measures have been taken by Russian authorities, forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee. “Hundreds” of Russians have been taken prisoner, according to the Ukrainian head of state. The Ukrainian army continues its advance in the Russian border region of Kursk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.
“We continue to advance in the Kursk region. Since the beginning of the day, we have covered between one and two kilometers in different areas,” the Ukrainian president commented on Telegram, while reporting “more than 100 Russian servicemen captured” this Wednesday.
800 km² of advance for Ukrainian forces
On Monday, the governor of Belgorod announced “an alarming morning for us” in the face of the advance of Ukrainian troops, announcing the displacement of the inhabitants of the Krasnoyarsk district, which has about 14,000 inhabitants, “to safer places”. The governor of the neighboring Kursk region reported that 28 localities were occupied by the Ukrainian army and that 121,000 people had been evacuated in one week.
The Russian military said again on Wednesday that it had “repulsed” Ukrainian attacks that aimed to “penetrate deep” into the border region of Kursk, on the eighth day of an unprecedented advance by kyiv’s forces on Russian soil.
Russian forces, supported by aircraft, drones and artillery, “thwarted attempts by enemy mobile groups in armored vehicles to penetrate deep into Russian territory” and inflicted heavy losses on Ukrainians, the Russian military said in a statement.
According to calculations made by AFP on Tuesday from Russian sources relayed by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), an American think tank, Ukrainian troops have advanced 800 km2 in the Kursk region. The Ukrainian army claims that its soldiers have conquered more than 1,000 km2 in Russia. For comparison, Russia has advanced 1,360 km2 in Ukrainian territory since January 1, 2024.
Ukraine is not seeking to “annex” Russian territories, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry assured on Tuesday. “The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace (…), the sooner the incursions of the Ukrainian defense forces into Russian territory will cease,” declared Georgiy Tykhiy, describing these operations as “absolutely legitimate.”