Russia tightens security in region of Ukraine incursion as fighting persists

Moscow has announced a “counter-terrorism operation” to increase security in the border region where an incursion this week by Ukrainian forces caught Russian troops off-guard and exposed military vulnerabilities.

The Russian defence ministry said fighting was continuing in the Kursk region and that the army has conducted air strikes against Ukrainian forces, including using a thermobaric bomb that both causes a blast wave and creates a vacuum that suffocates its targets.

The measures announced for Kursk and for the neighbouring 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 spreading well beyond Ukraine.

In neighbouring Belarus, where Russian troops are deployed but which has not sent its own army into Ukraine, President Alexander Lukashenko said air defences had shot down unspecified objects launched from Ukraine that were flying over Belarusian territory.

“I do not understand why Ukraine needs this. We need to figure it out. As I said before, we made it clear to them that any provocations will not go unanswered,” Mr Lukashenko said, according to state news agency Belta.

Belarusian defence minister Viktor Khrenin later identified the objects as drones and said that Mr Lukashenko has ordered troop reinforcements sent to border areas.

A Russian plane-launched missile slammed into a Ukrainian shopping mall on Friday, killing at least 14 people and injuring 44 others, 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.

Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin said in a Telegram post: “This is another targeted attack on a crowded place, another act of terror by the Russians.”

It was the second major strike on the town in almost a year. Last September, a Russian missile hit an outdoor market there, killing 17.

July saw the heaviest civilian casualties in Ukraine since October 2022, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said Friday. Conflict-related violence killed at least 219 civilians and injured 1,018 over the month, the mission said.

Russia’s defence ministry said reinforcements are being sent to Kursk to counter Ukraine’s raid, with Russia deploying multiple rocket launchers, towed artillery guns, tanks transported on trailers and heavy tracked vehicles.

The ministry reported fighting in the outskirts of Sudzha, about six miles from the border. The town has an important pipeline transit hub for Russian natural gas exports to Europe.

A Russian Emergencies Ministry spokesman said on Saturday that about 76,000 residents of the area have been evacuated.

There has been little reliable information on the daring Ukrainian operation and its strategic aims are unclear.

Ukrainian officials have refused to comment on the incursion, which is taking place about 500 320 miles south-west of Moscow.

Asked about Ukraine’s incursion, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the United States was “in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts” but that he would not comment until “those conversations are complete”.

“There’s been no changes in our policy approaches,” Mr Kirby said, when asked about US policy on use of weapons.

“They’re using it in an area where we had said before that they could use US weapons for cross-border strikes. The end goal here is to help Ukraine defend itself.”