Ukrainian Forces Attack Another Region in Russia

A state of emergency has been declared in Russia’s Belgorod region.

Following sustained attacks from Ukrainian forces, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov described the situation as “extremely difficult,” citing the ongoing daily shelling in the region.

“Houses are destroyed, civilians died and were injured,” he said.

This development comes on the heels of Ukraine’s unexpected cross-border assault in Russia’s Kursk region last week, which prompted mass evacuations and a state of emergency declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a video posted on Telegram, Governor Gladkov announced plans to appeal to the federal government to declare an emergency “at the federal level” similar to the one in Kursk.

Gladkov noted that Belgorod had experienced 23 drone attacks in the past 24 hours In a statement on Wednesday morning.

He detailed that the shelling and shrapnel had damaged a church, 14 houses, an administrative building, several vehicles, and a gas supply line.

Additionally, one civilian was reported wounded in the Shebekinsky district due to a drone attack.

Belgorod is located just south of the Kursk region, where Ukraine made its deepest incursion into Russian territory since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Ukrainian troops had advanced 1-2 kilometers further into Kursk since the start of the day.

However, Moscow maintains that it has successfully halted Ukrainian forces from advancing further into the region.

EDITOR’S PICK:

The exact extent of Ukrainian territorial gains remains uncertain, and there is skepticism surrounding previous claims by Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi that 1,000 square kilometers were under Ukrainian control.

Speaking via video link to President Zelensky, Mr. Syrskyi announced that Ukrainian forces had captured 100 Russian prisoners of war during the cross-border incursion.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman, Heorhiy Tykhy, emphasized that Kyiv is not interested in “taking over” Russian territory.

“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.

President Putin, in remarks made on Monday, asserted that Ukraine had rejected Russian proposals for returning to a peaceful settlement plan. “It appears that the enemy, with the help of his Western masters, is fulfilling their will, and the West is fighting us with the hands of the Ukrainians,” he said.

Russia’s foreign ministry special envoy, Rodion Miroshnik, condemned Ukraine’s incursion as a “terrorist action,” accusing Kyiv of putting the possibility of peace talks “on a long pause” by attacking the Kursk region.

President Zelensky has consistently stated that Ukraine will not engage in negotiations with Moscow until Russian forces withdraw from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.

Despite Russia’s efforts, the Ukrainian advance has continued, displacing nearly 200,000 Russians from their homes in parts of the Kursk region.

In his first public remarks on the operation, U.S. President Joe Biden noted that the offensive was “creating a real dilemma for Putin.”

Meanwhile, the prime ministers of Finland and Estonia expressed their support for Ukraine’s military operation in Kursk during a joint press conference on Wednesday.

Last week, Germany’s Foreign Ministry affirmed that Ukraine is entitled to self-defense, which “is not limited to its own territory.”

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Stephen Jesuwale

Jesuwale Stephen is a journalist who finished from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism. He is a distinctive writer, media strategist and also a Digital Marketer