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Vladimir Putin has vowed to “kick the enemy out” after Ukraine launched a surprise cross-border assault into the Kursk region, as thousands more civilians from the neighbouring Belgorod area were evacuated.
During comments at an impromptu meeting with his officials, Putin vowed to issue a “worthy response” against Ukraine amid fears that he could launch vicious attacks against the country’s civilian-populated areas.
“The enemy will undoubtedly receive a worthy response,” he said, “and there is no doubt that we will reach our objectives.”
The governor of Russia’s Kursk region added at the meeting that Ukraine controls more than two dozen settlements in the area just six days after launching the attack.
Meanwhile, the governor of neighbouring Belgorod Oblast Vyacheslav Gladkov said evacuations had begun from the Krasnaya Yaruga District of the region due to “enemy activity on the border”.
Russia’s Tass state news agency said 11,000 people had been evacuated from that region alone, while more than 76,000 have already been moved from Kursk.
Ukrainian forces have taken up to 95 square miles of land in just six days, according to analysts, and appear to be continuing to push forwards.
Fire seen at Ukrainian nuclear power plant as 15 injured in Kursk drone strike
Tom Watling13 August 2024 01:00
Watch: Thick dark smoke rises from Russia-occupied nuclear plant during fire
Watch: Thick dark smoke rises from Russia-occupied nuclear plant during fire
Dark smoke plumes pour into the sky meters above a cooling tower at a Russia-occupied nuclear plant on Sunday 11 August. A Russian governor claimed the fire began with Ukrainian shelling while Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Vladimir Putin’s forces had caused the fire. The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog said experts “witnessed thick dark smoke” after hearing multiple explosions throughout the evening. It comes as the Russian defence ministry said Ukrainian troops had advanced as much as 19 miles into Russia’s Kursk region in an audacious cross-border attack that began a week ago.
Tom Watling13 August 2024 00:00
On Geneva Conventions’ 75th anniversary, fighters in Gaza, Ukraine and beyond ignore rulebook of war
Tom Watling12 August 2024 23:00
Putin’s greatest fear is coming true – and he’s panicking
Tom Watling12 August 2024 22:00
More Russians are urged to flee Ukraine’s cross-border attack as the Kremlin scrambles to respond
Tom Watling12 August 2024 21:00
People evacuated from Russia’s Kursk region seek aid
Tom Watling12 August 2024 20:00
Putin holds meeting with senior officials after Ukrainian Kursk attack
Vladimir Putin has held a meeting with senior military officials, as well as local governors, to discuss the attack on the Kursk region bordering Ukraine.
Notable officials present at the meeting include the Kursk governor, Alexei Smirnov, military chief Valery Gerasimov and former defence minister Sergei Shoigu, now the security council chief.
Gerasimov has reportedly come under significant fire from Putin for not stopping the surprise Ukrainian attack into Kursk, which began in earnest last Tuesday and has since resulted in the loss of around 100 square miles of Russian land.
Tom Watling12 August 2024 19:00
Ukraine says Russian guided bomb attacks have decreased sharply in Kharkiv region
Russian forces have reduced the number of guided bomb attacks on border settlements in Ukraine‘s northeastern Kharkiv region, the local governor said on Monday, while Moscow troops struggle to repel Ukraine‘s cross-border assault in the Kursk region.
Russia has long been pummelling Ukrainian villages lying on the border with artillery and extremely destructive guided bombs. It stepped up attacks on the Kharkiv region in May, when Moscow’s troops opened a new front in the region’s north.
“We have been recording a sharp decrease in guided bomb strikes in recent days. If our border area has seen from 30 to 60 guided bomb strikes per day, now no more than 10,” Oleh Syniehubov, the governor, told national TV.
He added though that Russia continued attacking civilian infrastructure, and for that reason regional authorities planned to tighten curfew rules for some 100 settlements near the border and the front line.
Moscow denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure in its invasion of Ukraine. Thousands of people have been killed and injured in its attacks.
At the same time, regional authorities in the neighbouring Sumy region, adjacent to Russia’s Kursk region, reported an unprecedented number of airstrikes following the launch of the biggest border incursion into Russia during more than 29 months old full-scale war.
Tom Watling12 August 2024 18:00
Ukraine says Russia tries to accuse it of false war crimes in Kursk
Ukraine‘s State Security Service (SBU) has said that Russia is trying to falsely accuse Kyiv’s military of war crimes amid the cross-border incursion in Russia’s west Kursk region.
SBU said on the Telegram messenger that it had information showing Russia may stage crimes which it would blame Ukraine for.
The Independent was not able to verify these claims, nor those made by Moscow.
Tom Watling12 August 2024 17:00
Next Ukraine peace summit should include Russia, Swiss minister says
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said Monday he had signed a joint declaration with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani expressing “deep concern” over Russian aggression in Ukraine, but said Moscow should be present at the next peace summit.
Switzerland in mid-June hosted dozens of world leaders at a summit aimed at crafting a pathway towards peace in Ukraine, although Russia was not invited.
“We support holding a second peace summit that includes all parties, including Russia,” Cassis said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Tom Watling12 August 2024 16:00
Read More: Putin vows revenge for Kursk attack as Moscow evacuates thousands more from border
