Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to “kick the enemy out” of Russia’s territory after it emerged that Ukrainian troops were in control of dozens of Russian villages a week into Kyiv’s surprise cross-border incursion.
The scale of the incursion became clearer on Monday when Putin held a meeting with local officials from the border regions as well as some of Russia’s top security, government and law enforcement personnel.
The acting head of the Kursk region, Aleksey Smirnov, told Putin that 28 settlements in his region were now under Ukrainian control, adding that Ukrainian troops had managed to advance some 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) into the territory across a 40-kilometre (25-mile) wide stretch of the border.
Smirnov said that 180,000 people had been told to evacuate and that 121,000 have left already.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the neighboring Belgorod region in southern Russia, said people living in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district were being moved to safer places.
“We’re having a disturbing morning – enemy activities on the border of Krasnoyaruzhsky district. I am sure that our military will do everything to cope with this threat. But to protect the life and health of our people, we are beginning to relocate people who live in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district to safer places,” he said in a statement posted on his official Telegram channel.
About 11,000 residents from Krasnoyaruzhsky district were evacuated, the head of the district administration, Andrey Miskov, said later
The incursion, which is now affecting two Russian regions, is seen as something of a game-changer in the conflict. The Ukrainian military has in the past regularly attacked targets inside the Belgorod region with drones and missiles, but until last week Kyiv had not launched any official ground incursions across the border in the two and half years since the start of the full-scale war.
The extent of the operation remains unclear.
An influential Russian military blog Rybar said on Monday that “apparently the (Armed Forces of Ukraine) is not shying away from plans to stretch our defensive formations, create the maximum number of points of tension, and attempt to break through in the east to cut Belgorod off from the north.
Ukrainian officials are yet to comment on the current operations in Belgorod and CNN is unable to independently confirm Rybar’s claim.
A video geolocated by CNN posted on social media over the weekend shows Ukrainian soldiers holding their flag outside a rural social club in Poroz, a village that sits in Belgorod region about a mile from the international border.
Several Russian military bloggers reported an attempt by Ukrainian armed forces to attack a border crossing in the Belgorod region Monday morning, in the district that Russian authorities say is being evacuated.
CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment.
The operation, which started last Tuesday, has been shrouded in mystery. Ukrainian officials for days remained silent, refusing to comment on reports of Ukrainian troops operating inside Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky finally confirmed Kyiv’s troops had crossed into Russia on Saturday, saying in his nightly address to the nation that “Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed – pressure on the aggressor.”
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