Russia declares federal emergency in another region

RT
Thu, 15 Aug 2024 12:30 UTC

© Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresenskiy

A temporary shelter set up for evacuated residents of the Krasnoyaruzhsky district, in Belgorod region

A high-level commission has ordered the measure in Belgorod following Ukraine's cross-border incursion

A federal emergency has been declared in Russia's Belgorod Region amid a cross-border incursion by Ukrainian forces, the Emergencies Ministry in Moscow has announced.

Last week, Kiev launched its largest attack on Russian territory since the outbreak of the conflict in February 2022. The incursion focused on Kursk Region, where Ukrainian troops still hold a number of settlements and where a federal emergency was declared on Friday.

However, the neighboring Belgorod and Bryansk regions have also been affected and Moscow has launched counterterrorist operations in each.

The decision to declare a federal emergency in Belgorod Region was made during a government meeting in Moscow on Thursday, in which Emergencies Minister Aleksandr Kurenkov and Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov both participated.

The situation in Belgorod Region "remains difficult and tense," Kurenkov said. "As a result of terrorist attacks by the Ukrainian armed units... residential buildings and infrastructure facilities have been damaged, there are killed and wounded among the civilians," he stressed.

The local authorities are providing "comprehensive assistance" to the population, but the region lacks the capacity to deal with the aftermath of the incursion on its own, the minister said, explaining the decision to announce a federal-level response.

The measure means that people whose relatives have been killed, have been wounded themselves, or have had their property damaged as a result of the Ukrainian attack can apply for compensation from the Russian state.

It also allows the authorities to restrict access to the emergency area, carry out mandatory evacuations, and commandeer personal vehicles for government needs, among other actions.

Moscow's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine had lost up to 340 troops and 19 pieces of equipment, including five US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, during clashes in Russian border regions over the past 24 hours.

Overall, Kiev lost some 2,640 servicemen and several hundred units of military hardware since the start of the incursion, including 37 tanks and 32 APCs, the ministry added. "The operation to destroy the Ukrainian armed units continues," it said.

Comment:
From the same source a number of headlines reflect the backing the Ukrainian military operation has in the US and Europe as if they welcome more war:

15 Aug, 2024 10:59
West knew about Ukraine's Kursk incursion plan - Zelensky aide

Kiev's key supporters, including the US, have denied prior knowledge of the attack on Russian territory

Kiev discussed its plan to launch a cross-border attack into Russia with its Western backers, a top adviser to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has admitted.

Western officials have said they supported last week's incursion into Kursk Region, but have denied any prior knowledge of the operation.

However, Zelensky aide Mikhail Podoliak has told The Independent that these disclaimers were not accurate, the British online newspaper reported on Thursday.

"There are certain things that have to be done with the element of surprise, and that have to happen on a local level," he was quoted as saying. "But there were discussions between partner forces, just not on the public level."

The Ukrainian official reiterated the explanations of the motives behind the operation that he previously offered on national television, stating that Kiev's objective is to use military "coercion" against the Russian public.

"When the war proceeds into the territory of Russia, they are certainly scared. They are shocked. This has a significant impact on the psychological state of Russia," he said.

Russian officials have said that by attacking civilians in Kursk Region Kiev had killed any chance for peace talks - an objective that their Ukrainian counterparts claim the incursion brings closer.

Podoliak urged the British government to permit Kiev to strike Russian territory with the long-range Storm Shadow missiles London has donated. If such attacks happen, "Russia would understand the cost of war is too high," he told The Independent.

According to British media, London allows Ukrainian troops to use any of weapons it sends to them on Russian soil, with the exception of the cruise missiles, which the UK manufactures jointly with France.

Moscow has warned that if any Western weapons are used for strikes deep inside Russia, it would share similar capabilities with parties elsewhere in the world that would use them against Western military assets.

Moscow considers Kiev's military tactics in Russia to be "terrorist." Western nations arming Kiev share responsibility for atrocities committed by Ukrainian troops, officials have said.

The above comes after slow coming acknowledgements from many governments who perhaps are on holiday. The reality might be that the move into Russia was organized with NATO and not the civilian administrations.

12 Aug, 2024 15:56
Kiev failed to notify backers of Kursk incursion - Berlin

German government spokesman Wolfgang Buchner has refused to condemn the cross-border attack

13 Aug, 2024 20:43
EU 'fully supports' Ukrainian attack on Kursk - Borrell

The bloc's top diplomat has expressed his backing for Kiev's operation in the Russian region

13 Aug, 2024 21:56
Biden admits 'direct contact' with Ukraine over Kursk assault

The US leader has made his first remarks about the incursion of Kiev's forces into Russia

14 Aug, 2024 19:38
More NATO members endorse Ukraine's attack on Russia

Finland and Estonia have joined Poland in hailing the incursion into Kursk Region

The prime ministers of Finland and Estonia have voiced their support for the Ukrainian attack on Russia's Kursk Region. The comments from the respective Russian neighbors come after EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell and US President Joe Biden also backed the raid.

Kiev sent several thousand troops across the Russian border last week. They have seized a dozen or so villages and indiscriminately targeted civilians, according to Moscow.

"Ukraine has the right to self-defense and it's clear that they can do their operation in Kursk," Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters in Helsinki on Wednesday, at the joint press conference with his Estonian counterpart Kristen Michal.

"We fully support Ukraine in its different operations and personally I wish them luck," Michal said.

Earlier in the day, Polish PM Donald Tusk said that Kiev has "every right to wage war in such a way as to paralyze Russia in its aggressive intentions as effectively as possible." He also claimed that Russian actions have "the hallmarks of genocide."

Most Western leaders declined to comment on Ukraine's assault as late as Monday, choosing instead to make general statements endorsing "self defense" on part of Kiev. They also claimed to lack any knowledge of the Ukrainian offensive in advance.

On Tuesday, however, the US president suggested that Washington had been in touch with Kiev throughout.

"I have spoken with my staff on a regular basis, probably every four or five hours for the last six or eight days," Biden told reporters in New Orleans. "And we've been in direct contact, constant contact with the Ukrainians."

Meanwhile, EU foreign policy commissioner Josep Borrell said that Kiev had the bloc's "full support" for the Kursk offensive.

Ukrainian troops interviewed by Western outlets have admitted that the incursion's primary objective was to capture some territory that could be traded with Moscow in eventual peace talks, while relieving pressure on Pokrovsk, Chasov Yar and New York in the Donbass.

However, the attack appears to have weakened Ukrainian positions in Donetsk People's Republic, as Russian troops began to advance more swiftly. The Kursk incursion also resulted in an increase in Russian enlistments, according to President Vladimir Putin.

15 Aug, 2024 07:42
Supporting Ukraine 'a business opportunity' - new NATO member's PM

Finland joined the US-led bloc last year, and has since launched into a weapons making boom

After the latest developments, peace might come more slowly:
14 Aug, 2024 13:04
'Unhinged' Kiev killed chance for peace talks - Moscow

Any chance of negotiations will remain on a "long pause" after Ukraine's incursion into Kursk Region, a senior diplomat has said