The governor issues an evacuation order as Kiev increases military activity across the border and maintains pressure on Kursk.
Russia has begun evacuations in the Belgorod region as it sees increased military activity across the border with Ukraine.
The governor of Belgorod announced on Monday that he ordered civilians in a district in the region to move to safety. Russian forces are fighting a Ukrainian offensive in the neighboring Kursk region.
“The enemy is active on the border of Krasnoyaruzhsky District,” warned Vyacheslav Gladkov on the messaging platform Telegram on Monday.
“For the health and safety of our population, we are starting to move people living in Krasnoyaruzhsky to safer locations,” he said. “I am sure that our military will do everything to deal with the threat that has arisen.”
It was not clear from Gladkov’s statement how many Russian residents have been evacuated so far in Belgorod, which has regularly come under fire from Ukrainian missiles and drones in recent months.
Kiev is reported to have drastically increased military activity near its border with Belgorod since its forces invaded Kursk early on August 6.
Russia has promised a strong reaction to what is Ukraine’s biggest incursion into Russia since Moscow invaded its neighbor in 2022.
More than 76 thousand people fled the Kursk border area.
Apparently caught by surprise, Moscow reportedly stabilized the front at Kursk, although Ukraine captured a swathe of territory where fighting continued on Monday, according to Russian war bloggers.
Ukraine has now broken its previous silence on the attacks. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine launched an incursion into Russian territory to “restore justice” and put pressure on Moscow’s forces.
Russia has imposed a comprehensive security regime in the Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions. Your ally Belarus said it was beefing up troop numbers on its border, with Minsk complaining that Ukrainian drones had violated its airspace.
The audacious Ukrainian attacks on Russian sovereign territory are seen as part of Kiev’s attempt to show the West that it can still muster major military operations, while also trying to obtain bargaining chips ahead of possible ceasefire negotiations.
Russian forces, which have vast numerical supremacy and control 18% of Ukrainian territory, have been advancing this year along the 1,000 km (620 miles) front line in eastern Ukraine.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
