Russia declares a federal emergency in a border region that is under attack from Ukrainian forces
Russia's Ministry for Emergencies on Friday declared the situation in the Kursk region a «federal level» emergency, four days after hundreds of Ukrainian troops poured over the border in what appeared to be Kyiv's biggest attack on Russian soil since the war began. Meanwhile, a Russian plane-launched missile hit a Ukrainian shopping mall late morning Friday, killing at least nine people and injuring 26, authorities said.
The mall in Kostiantynivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, is located in the town's residential area. Thick black smoke rose above it after the strike.
«This is another targeted attack on a crowded place, another act of terror by the Russians,» Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin said in a Telegram post.
«The operational situation in the Kursk region remains difficult,» Kursk acting governor Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram.
Social services and civic associations are providing assistance to people forced to flee their homes by the fighting, he said. The last Russian figure for evacuations in Kursk was 3,000.
Little reliable information about the surprise Ukrainian operation has emerged, and its strategic aims are unclear. Ukrainian officials have refused to comment specifically about the incursion, which is taking place about 500 km (320 miles) southwest of Moscow.
But a top adviser to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that border region attacks will cause Russia to «start to realise that the war is slowly creeping inside of Russian territory.» Myhailo Podolyak also
