MOSCOW: Russia ordered more evacuations on Monday in two Russian regions bordering Ukraine as fighting with Kyiv intensified.
Ukraine sent troops into Russia last week in its biggest cross-border operation since the war between the two countries started in February 2022.
Russian Authorities in the Kursk region said they were broadening their evacuation area to Belovsky district, which is home to some 14,000 people. Meanwhile, the authorities in the neighboring Belgorod region said it was evacuating its border district of Krasnoyaruzhsky.
“For the health and security of our population, we’re beginning to move people who live in Krasnoyaruzhsky to safer places,” Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the social media platform Telegram.
A top Ukrainian official told Western media that the operation was aimed at stretching Russian troops after months of slow Russian advances across the Ukrainian border.
The Russian army on Sunday conceded that Ukraine had penetrated up to 30 kilometers into Russian territory. The defense ministry in a briefing, said it had “foiled attempts” by Ukraine’s forces to “break through deep into Russian territory”.
A Ukrainian security official, on condition of anonymity, told AFP, that “the aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses and to destabilize the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border.”
The Ukrainian official said thousands of Ukrainian troops were involved in the military operation.
Defence ministry of Russia on Monday said that its air defence systems had destroyed 18 Ukrainian drones.
On Sunday, both countries blamed each other for a fire at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine.
“No impact has been reported for nuclear safety,” said the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has experts at the site.
The official said that Ukraine was bracing for a large-scale retaliatory missile attack, including “on decision-making centers” in Ukraine.
