Russia tightens security in Kursk region, as fight continues against Ukraine's surprise incursion
Russia has announced increased security measures in the border region of Kursk
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia on Saturday announced increased security measures in the border region of Kursk, where an incursion this week by Ukrainian forces caught Russian troops off guard and exposed its military vulnerabilities in the nearly 2½-year-old war.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to refer indirectly to the operation in his nightly address on Saturday, the closest a Ukrainian official has come to acknowledging it.
Zelenskyy commended Ukrainian combat brigades across the front line, including the Sumy region, which lies adjacent to Kursk. He also said that Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine's armed forces, had sent him multiple reports about the front-line situation “and our actions to push the war out into the aggressor's territory.”
Fighting was continuing in the Kursk region and Russia is sending reinforcements to counter Ukraine’s raid, with Russia deploying multiple rocket launchers, towed artillery guns, tanks transported on trailers and heavy tracked vehicles, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.
About 76,000 residents of the area have been evacuated, a Russian Emergencies Ministry spokesman said Saturday.
There is fighting on the outskirts of Sudzha, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Ukraine border. The town has an important pipeline transit hub for Russian natural gas exports to Europe.
The measures announced for Kursk, and for the neighboring Belgorod and Bryansk regions that border Ukraine, allow the government to relocate residents, control phone communications and requisition vehicles.
The raid that began on Tuesday is the largest cross-border foray of the war and raises concerns about fighting
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