Russia declares federal emergency as Ukrainian troops continue cross-border assault

Russia’s Ministry for Emergencies on Friday declared 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.

Little reliable information about the surprise Ukrainian operation has emerged, and its strategic aims are unclear. Ukrainian officials have refused to comment specifically on the incursion, which is taking place about 500 kilometres southwest of Moscow.

But a top adviser to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Myhailo Podolyak, said on Thursday that border region attacks will cause Russia to “start to realise that the war is slowly creeping inside of Russian territory.”

Podolyak also suggested that the operation would strengthen Kyiv’s hand in the event of negotiations with Moscow.

The region's acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, said on Telegram that “the operational situation in the Kursk region remains difficult". Social services and civic associations are providing assistance to people forced to flee their homes by the fighting, he said.

Russia declares federal level emergencies when there are more than 500 victims or damage exceeds 500 million roubles (€5.4m). The last given Russian figure for evacuations from Kursk was 3,000.

The assault came as the Ukrainian army struggles to repel intense Russian pushes against the front line in eastern Ukraine, especially in the Donetsk region. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear he wants to capture the parts of Donetsk that the Kremlin’s forces don’t already occupy.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, says Ukrainian forces have pressed on with their “rapid advances” deeper into the Kursk region, reportedly going up to 35km beyond the border.

“The lack of a coherent Russian response to the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk … and the reported rate of Ukrainian advance indicates that Ukrainian forces were able to achieve operational surprise,” the Washington-based ISW said late Thursday.

A Russian Defence Ministry statement Friday said only that the military “continues to repel the attempted invasion” and is responding with airstrikes, artillery and troops on the ground.

Ukraine has also kept up its strategy of hitting areas well behind the front with long-range drones, targeting military sites, oil refineries and other infrastructure.

Ukrainian drones attacked Russia’s Lipetsk region, which is about 300km from the Ukraine border, on Thursday night, authorities said.

The regional emergencies ministry in Lipetsk said there was a fire at a military airfield where fighter planes, including MiG-29s and Su-34s, are reportedly based.

Lipetsk governor Igor Artamonov said that unspecified electrical infrastructure was damaged, and nine people were wounded in the attack.

The Russian Defence Ministry said that 75 Ukrainian drones were shot down during the night, 19 of them over Lipetsk.