The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region declared a state of emergency Wednesday following Ukraine’s bombardment of the region.
"The situation in the Belgorod region continues to be extremely difficult and tense," Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app. “Houses are destroyed. Civilians died and were injured.”
He added that "a state of emergency will be introduced on the regional level, followed by a request to the governmental commission to declare a federal state of emergency."
In the neighboring region of Kursk, Ukrainian forces were in control of 74 settlements on Tuesday, Ukraine’s president said.
"Hundreds of Russian servicemen have already surrendered, and all of them will receive humane treatment – they did not experience such treatment even in their own Russian army," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address. "We have proven once again that we, Ukrainians, are capable of achieving our goals in any situation – capable of defending our interests and our independence.’’
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This is the latest development in Ukraine’s cross-border assault on Kursk that began a week ago, a surprise operation that caught Russia off guard. Reuters reports that Ukrainian forces continue to advance in Kursk and have gained one to three kilometers in the last 24 hours.
That account does not square with that of Russia’s Major General Apti Alaudinov, who said Ukraine’s troops had been stopped as have attacks on villages 26-28 kilometers from the border.
Asked Tuesday about Ukraine’s action, U.S. President Joe Biden said he’s been briefed every four to five hours for the last six to eight days on Ukraine’s action.
"It’s creating a real dilemma for Putin," he said of the operation, which appeared to have caught the Russians by surprise.
Don Jensen, a senior adviser on Russia and Europe at the U.S. Institute of Peace, agreed that Russia has been scrambling to respond.
"People around the world will note that Ukraine has really showed skill, great operational security ... excellent planning and, above all, excellent execution of that plan," Jensen said.
"The bottom line is that Ukraine has surprised the world again, showing Russia’s weak spots," Jensen said. "Russia reacted very slowly and uncoordinated to the incursion, and not surprisingly, the Kremlin is shaking in its boots."
Earlier Tuesday, Ukraine said it has no interest in holding territory it captured in Russia’s Kursk region for the long term, but in the meantime, the presence of Ukraine soldiers can complicate Moscow’s efforts to move more troops to the front battle lines in eastern Ukraine.
"Unlike Russia, Ukraine does not need other people’s property," Ukraine Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy told reporters in Kyiv. "Ukraine is not interested in taking the territory of the Kursk region, but we want to protect the lives of our people."
Tykhy defended Ukraine’s actions as "absolutely legitimate."
"The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace ... the sooner the raids by the Ukrainian defense forces into Russia will stop," he told reporters, although no peace talks are under way.
President Zelenskyy said, "It should be emphasized that the operation in the Kursk region helps the front line because it does not allow Russia to transfer additional units to the Donetsk region — complicates its military logistics."
Zelenskyy said Russia has used the Kursk region to launch more than 2,000 cross-border strikes on Ukrainian territory since June. He said Ukrainian forces have captured areas used to launch such strikes during the weeklong incursion that has captured 1,000 square kilometers of land.
Ukrainian forces have managed the biggest attack by a foreign army on Russian soil since World War II. Russia said Tuesday it had fended off new attacks in Kursk, but more than 120,000 people have fled the area.
Ukraine said it was imposing movement restrictions in a 20-kilometer zone in Sumy region along the border with the Kursk region, due to an "increase in the intensity of hostilities" and "sabotage" activities.
Since launching its invasion in February 2022, Russia has captured territory in southern and eastern Ukraine and subjected Ukrainian cities to missile and drone barrages. But Ukraine’s offensive into Kursk was its biggest cross-border action since the Russian invasion and it caught Moscow off guard.
"They didn’t protect the border," a Ukrainian serviceman who took part in the offensive, and identified himself as Ruzhyk, told Agence France-Presse in Ukraine’s Sumy region.
"They only had anti-personnel mines scattered around trees at the side of the road and a few mines that they managed to quickly throw along the highways," he said.
Ukrainian military analyst Mykola Bielieskov told AFP, "Russian complacency prevailed."
"Russia assumed that since it had initiative elsewhere, Ukraine wouldn’t dare to do things we’ve seen," he said, referring to months of Russian advances along the eastern front. Russia controls much of Ukraine’s eastern flank.
VOA’s Kim Lewis contributed to this report. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
