Russia steps up civilian evacuations amid Ukrainian incursion

Russia has ordered New evacuations of civilians began on Monday in the regions of Belgorod and Kursk, bordering Ukraine, almost a week after a Ukrainian incursion in the magnitude that has already pushed several tens of thousands of people to leave.

After months of retreat from Russian soldiers on its eastern front, Ukraine launched an unprecedented large-scale operation in the Russian region of Kursk on August 6, taking control of several localities there, according to analysts. Neighboring Belgorod is not affected by fighting at this stage, but the situation there is considered “alarming” by the authorities.

“Thousands” Ukrainian soldiers are taking part in this surprise assault, according to a senior Ukrainian security official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.

” The goal is to stretch the enemy's positions, inflict maximum losses on him, destabilize the situation in Russia (…) and transfer the war to Russian territory,” he explained to AFP.

For its part, the Russian army persists in saying that it is inflicting heavy losses on the Ukrainians, in particular by preventing “breakthrough attempts” towards localities located about 30 kilometers as the crow flies from Ukrainian territory.

But the situation for civilians is delicate: more than 76,000 people living in the Kursk region were evacuated according to the authorities on Saturday, and on Monday, the acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, announced that the evacuations were being extended to the Belovski district, which has a population of nearly 15,000.

Faced with an “alarming” situation, the authorities of the Belgorod region, adjacent to that of Kursk, also ordered the evacuation of residents of the Krasnoyarsk district in the morning “for (their) security”.

“There is enemy activity” in the area, acknowledged the governor of the Belgorod region, Viatcheslav Gladkov, who did not specify how many civilians were affected by this decision.

– Reception of evacuees –

In Moscow, the reception of displaced persons has been organized for several days.

Daria Chistopolskaya, a 28-year-old midwife, came to drop off toys that she would otherwise have given to relatives or stored in the family dacha.

“The state does not care enough about these people and people themselves should help each other in such situations,” she laments to AFP.

Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory © AFP – Valentin RAKOVSKY, Sabrina BLANCHARD, Sylvie HUSSON

During the night from Sunday to Monday, the Russian army also said it had “destroyed” a total of 18 Ukrainian attack drones in three regions of western Russia (Koursk, Belgorod and Voronezh), without mentioning any possible damage or injuries.

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AFP journalists saw dozens of Ukrainian armoured vehicles on Sunday on the roads of the Ukrainian region of Sumy (north), opposite that of Kursk.

These vehicles, of different types, are marked with a white triangle that clearly serves to identify the troops taking part in this offensive.

After days of silence on the operation, President Volodymyr Zelensky explained on Saturday that kyiv was seeking, through this attack, to “move the war onto the territory of the Russian aggressor.”

In this context, the Ukrainian authorities have requested the evacuation of at least 20,000 civilians from the Sumy region. On the Russian side, the “anti-terrorist” regime has been established in the border regions of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk.

– “Reinforced morale” –

Photo published on August 11, 2024 on the official Telegram account of Kursk Mayor Igor Kutsak, showing a fire in a residential building after a missile attack in Kursk, Russia © TELEGRAM/@glavaigorkutsak – Handout

The fire that broke out Sunday evening in the cooling system of the shut-down Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, occupied by the Russian armed forces, has also been “extinguished”, an official of the occupation in southern Ukraine, Vladimir Rogov, assured on Monday.

kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for the incident.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said there was “no impact on nuclear safety,” while once again denouncing “irresponsible attacks that (…) increase the danger of a nuclear accident.”

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has been waging a relentless offensive there ever since, occupying nearly 20% of the country and subjecting Ukrainian cities to daily artillery, missile and drone attacks.

Image released by the Russian Defense Ministry on August 8, 2024, showing a Russian drone attack on Ukrainian armored vehicles near Sudja, Kursk region © Russian Defense Ministry – –

According to the Ukrainian official interviewed by AFP, the incursion was initially aimed at diverting Russian forces from the Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv and Donbass (east) to ease their pressure on Kiev's smaller army.

But, for now, “their pressure in the East continues. They are not withdrawing their troops from this area”, even if the “intensity” of Russian attacks there has “dropped a little bit”.

The attack has however “caught the Russians off guard” and “really boosted our morale”, continued this official.

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 could be used for political purposes”, for example, during peace negotiations, he judged.

This official finally assured that Ukraine's Western allies had been warned of the incursion “since Western weaponry is actively used” in this operation.

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