(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Monday to do everything to “expel” Ukrainian forces from the Russian region of Kursk, the scene of a major incursion since August 6 that has allowed Kyiv’s troops to take control of 28 localities, according to Russian authorities, forcing more than 120,000 civilians to leave.
After months of retreating in the face of Russian troops on its eastern front, Ukraine on August 6 launched the largest cross-border attack against Russia since the Russian assault began in February 2022.
It is also the largest offensive by a foreign army on Russian soil since World War II.
“Thousands” of Ukrainian soldiers are taking part, a senior Ukrainian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Sunday, with the aim of “stretching the enemy’s positions, inflicting maximum losses, destabilizing the situation in Russia.” […] and to transfer the war to Russian territory.”
PHOTO GAVRIIL GRIGOROV, SPUTNIK, PROVIDED BY REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a meeting with security officials in Moscow on August 12.
“The main task of the Defense Ministry is undoubtedly to expel the enemy from our territories,” Putin said Monday during a meeting broadcast on Russian television alongside security forces officials.
For the Russian president, this is an unexpected setback, as his army has had the advantage for several months on the eastern front in Ukraine, gradually gaining ground without, however, making a major breakthrough in the Ukrainian defenses.
At this stage, 28 localities in the Kursk region have come under Ukrainian control, acknowledged the acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, who spoke via videoconference.
More significantly, the official said the Ukrainian operation extends over an area 40 kilometers wide and 12 kilometers deep into Russian territory.
More than 120,000 evacuees
These figures reveal the scale of the attack by Ukrainian forces, while the Russian army has claimed daily since August 6 to be inflicting heavy losses on the Ukrainians, preventing “breakthrough attempts.”
According to Alexei Smirnov, at least 12 civilians were killed and 121 others injured, “including ten children,” in the Ukrainian armed incursion.
Faced with this difficult situation, the Russian authorities ordered on Monday new evacuations of civilians in the region of Kursk, but also in Belgorod, both of which border Ukraine.
PHOTO VIACHESLAV RATYNSKYI, REUTERS
A sign indicates a border crossing with Russia in the Sumy region of Ukraine on August 11.
“To date, 121,000” people “have left or been evacuated” from Kursk, Mr. Smirnov detailed.
The one in Belgorod, adjacent to that of Kursk, is not at this stage concerned by the fighting, but the situation there is judged “alarming” by the regional authorities who, consequently, announced in the morning the evacuation of the inhabitants of the district of Krasnoyarsk “for [leur] security “.
“There is enemy activity” in the area, acknowledged the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, who did not specify how many civilians were affected by this decision.
The Ukrainian military is seeking to “sow discord and discord in our society, to intimidate people, to destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society,” Vladimir Putin said on Monday, accusing Kyiv of “carrying out the will” of the West.
“Our compatriots are suffering”
In Moscow, aid for displaced people has been organized for several days.
PHOTO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Evacuees line up to receive humanitarian aid at a distribution center in Kursk, Russia, August 12.
Ivan, a 31-year-old lawyer, brought clothes to a collection center. “Our compatriots are suffering,” he told AFP. “In times like this, we have to show solidarity.”
Daria Chistopolskaya, a 28-year-old midwife, is more critical of the authorities.
“The state does not care enough about these people and people themselves should help each other in such situations,” she said, after bringing some toys.
On the roads of the Ukrainian region of Sumy (North), opposite that of Kursk, AFP journalists saw on Sunday dozens of Ukrainian armoured vehicles marked with a white triangle which clearly serves to identify the troops taking part in the attack in Russia.
PHOTO ROMAN PILIPEY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ukrainian servicemen drive a Soviet-made T-64 tank in the Sumy region, near the border with Russia, on August 11.
In this context, the Ukrainian authorities have already requested the evacuation of at least 20,000 civilians from this border region.
For Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country remains almost 20% occupied by Russia, the objective of the surprise assault in the Kursk region is clear: “to move the war to the territory of the Russian aggressor.”
According to the Ukrainian official interviewed by AFP, the incursion was also aimed at easing pressure on the Ukrainian army in Donbass (East), where Russian troops have been advancing since the beginning of the year.
Sooner or later, Russia will “stop” the Ukrainian units in the Kursk region, but if “after a certain time it does not manage to retake these territories, they can be used for political purposes,” for example, during peace negotiations, he said.
“The enemy is trying to improve its negotiating position in the future,” Vladimir Putin said.