Second Russian region evacuated due to ‘Ukrainian activity’ – as Kyiv ‘seizes battlefield initiative’

Yesterday, the Ukrainian president issued his first comments on his forces’ invasion of Russia’s Kursk region.

There have been very few details released about the operation, with Ukrainian officials adopting a policy of secrecy over its goal and why it has taken place.

But in his nightly address, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to suggest the move has been made in retaliation to strikes conducted by Russian forces from Kursk.

He said Russia deserved a “fair” response after it launched nearly 2,000 cross-border strikes at Ukraine’s Sumy region over the summer.

“Artillery, mortars, drones. We also record missile strikes, and each such strike deserves a fair response,” he said.

Reports have suggested that as many as 6,000 troops have crossed the border, and Ukrainian media outlets suggested today that Kyiv’s forces have also entered Russia’s Belgorod region.

Now, US-based thinktank the Institute for the Study of War has said Ukrainian forces are largely holding their position in the Sudzha area of Kursk.

Speculation is rife as to the aims of the Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region – and the potential incursion into the Belgorod region we reported on this morning (see 6.13am post).

Our security and defence analyst Professor Michael Clarke suggests there are reputational and strategic aims for Kyiv.

“I’m sure they’re doing this to try to reverse the narrative that they’re losing the war slowly,” he says.

He suggests that Ukraine will not be able to hold the territory for more than month, as he expects Russia to send its best units.

However, Ukraine is not only trying to distract Russia or impress allies, but outright change minds in the US.

“They want to change the dynamic of the argument in America,” he says, so they are not seen as a “gallant loser” who will have to give up territory should a new Washington government aggressively pursue settlement talks.

NATO allies and other pro-Ukrainian nations are concerned that Donald Trump, should he win the election in November, will force Ukraine into accepting harsh peace terms

Finally, Clarke suggests Ukraine could be looking to strategically seize territory before the winter sets in again.

“Both sides are trying to prepare the frontlines for the winter,” Professor Clarke says.

“Come mid-late October, it won’t be possible to move around so easily – you can still fight in the winter, but you can’t spread out.

“You’ve got to travel on the roads because the fields are so wet or they’re covered in snow, and if you travel on roads, then you’re very vulnerable to air attack.

“So this attempt by Ukraine… is to establish a better position and maybe hold on to it during parts of the winter.”

Watch: Ukrainian tanks ‘destroyed’ in Russia

Ukraine’s invasion of the Kursk region has allowed Kyiv to seize the battlefield initiative for the first time since the end of last year, a leading thinktank has said.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said since November 2023, Russia has been able to “determine the location, time, scale, and requirements of fighting in Ukraine”.

However, the continuing invasion of the Kursk region by Kyiv’s forces “has forced the Kremlin and Russian military command to react and redeploy forces and means to the sector”.

As a result, Ukraine now has the “battlefield initiative”.

ISW assessed that the Kremlin must now reconsider whether it treats the invasion as a new front and redirects considerable resources to repel it, or to continue maintaining its near 1,000km long frontline in Ukraine itself.

“Previous notable incursions into Russia did not change the Kremlin’s perception of the international border area, but the Ukrainian operation in Kursk Oblast will force the Kremlin to make a decision,” it said.

Parts of a second Russian region are being evacuated this morning after reports of “”activity” in the area by Ukrainian forces, the local governor has said.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, who runs the Belgorod region, said authorities had given the go-ahead to take bring people away – but did not share any further details.

It is not clear how widespread the evacuation is.

This comes after Ukrainian troops invaded the neighbouring Kursk Oblast on Tuesday – leading to evacuations in the Russian border region.

Additionally, Ukrainian media outlets reported yesterday that Kyiv’s forces appeared to have entered Belgorod region – sharing video of five uniformed Ukrainian troops standing outside a building as one said: “I wish you health, the 252nd battalion is in the village of Poroz, Belgorod Oblast. Glory to Ukraine!”

It’s not clear when the video was filmed, or whether it might have been part of a raid.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

As we enter a new week of the conflict, fighting is continuing in Russia’s Kursk region – where Ukrainian troops launched an invasion on Tuesday.

More than 76,000 people have been evacuated from the area so far.

Ukrainian officials have remained tight-lipped over the details and purpose of the operation.

But last night, Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested it was being conducted as a “fair response” to the Russian strikes launched on the Sumy region over the summer.

We’ll be bringing you the latest updates throughout the day.

Before we do, here’s a reminder of the other key events from the last 24 hours:

• Belarus sent more troops to reinforce its border with Ukraine after it claimed to have shot down unspecified objects launched by Kyiv’s troops;
• Ukrainian media outlets reported that Ukraine’s forces had entered Russia’s Belgorod region;
• Russia carried out an aerial weapons strike against Ukrainian forces in Kursk, the country’s defence ministry said;
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of lighting a fire at a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

That’s all our live coverage for today but we’ll be back tomorrow with all the latest updates.

Before we go, here’s a reminder of what has happened today:

Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region for the first time, and suggested it was a “fair response” to a number of strikes launched by Russia.

Reuters

The Ukrainian president said Russian forces had launched nearly 2,000 cross-border strikes at the city of Sumy from the region over the summer.

Fighting continued in Kursk for a sixth day, with Russia claiming to have targeted Ukrainian troops with aerial weapons.

US-based thinktank The Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces have been largely holding their position in the town of Sudzha, while Kyiv’s media outlets reported that forces have entered Kursk’s neighbouring region of Belgorod.

Meanwhile, Russia has evacuated around 76,000 people from the border regions.

Russian Red Cross workers have been helping those who fled KurskAP

A man convicted in the killing of a Russian opposition politician has been discharged from jail after signing a contract to fight in Ukraine, state-run news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti have reported.

Tamerlan Eskerkhanov was among five men sent to prison over Boris Nemtsov’s murder in 2017.

He was convicted as an accomplice and jailed for 14 years.

Tamerlan Eskerkhanov in 2017Reuters

Mr Nemtsov, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and former deputy prime minister under president Boris Yeltsin, was shot dead in 2015 as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin.

“Eskerkhanov signed a contract with the defence ministry in March 2024, was pardoned, and then released from his penal colony,” TASS cited a source in law enforcement agencies as saying.

“He went to one of the assault units and is now carrying out combat missions in the special military operation zone.”

He added that the other convicts jailed over Nemtsov’s killing were still in jail because they had refused to sign contracts with the military.

More now on the fire at the occupied Zaporizhzhia power plant…

The UN nuclear watchdog has said strong, dark smoke has been emerging from the northern area of the site.

It said the smoke followed multiple explosions.

“Team was told by (the nuclear plant) of an alleged drone attack today on one of the cooling towers located at the site,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said on X.

“No impact has been reported for nuclear safety.”

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces had started a fire at the plant.

Russian authorities in charge of the plant said the fire had started near the facility’s cooling towers, and rescuers were working to put it out.

By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor 

With his troops battling hard inside Russia, Ukraine’s president has finally broken his silence on an invasion that has stunned his much larger and more powerful neighbour.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the operation, which began on Tuesday in Russia’s southwestern Kursk region, as “our actions to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory”.

Giving a further indication of the goal of the surprise assault, he said: “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.”

Details about the number of Ukrainian soldiers inside Russia remain unclear as commanders have deliberately stayed silent about a mission that was planned in secret.

But it is likely to be in the thousands, with elements from at least three well-equipped brigades on the ground, deploying tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery guns and drones.

Also hard to measure is how far the Ukrainian attackers have pushed, with Russian military bloggers saying they have penetrated up to around 12 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Videos, widely circulated on social media, purport to show Ukrainian soldiers raising the yellow and blue flag of Ukraine over Russian territory, including in the town of Sudzha and a settlement close to the Ukrainian border in the next door region of Belgorod.

Under pressure, Russia has rushed in reinforcements and released footage of its military fighting back, but this is the sixth day of the Ukrainian offensive and battles are still raging.

Commenting on events, analysts have noted that it is the first time Russia has been invaded since Adolf Hitler in 1941.

But Ukraine’s attack is not the act of an aggressive power making a land grab.

Instead it is the counterintuitive action of a nation that was invaded by Vladimir Putin’s Russia a decade ago – with the capture of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine – and subsequently further devastated by Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

It makes Kyiv’s counter invasion into Kursk just the latest – though arguably the most audacious – effort by Ukraine to repel Russian forces from inside its own sovereign territory.

Russia has started fire at nuclear power plant, says Zelenskyy

Russian forces have started a fire at a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

The Ukrainian president said flames could be seen on the premises of the Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces for much of the war.

In a statement on X, he said radiation indicators were normal.

He also shared a video purporting to show the fire. Sky News has not independently verified the clip.

A local official in the Ukrainian city of Nikopol, which looks out onto the plant, said there was unofficial information that Russian forces had set fire to numerous tyres in the cooling towers.

He urged residents to remain calm.

Russian authorities in charge of the plant said the fire started near the facility’s cooling towers, and rescuers were working to put it out.

Ukrainian troops have been seen riding armoured vehicles near the Russian border.

Photos taken by Reuters showed a number of troops operating in the city of Sumy – the area used to launched Ukraine’s surprise invasion of Russia’s Kursk region.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appeared to suggest this evening that the invasion was launched as a “fair” response to Russian strikes on Sumy over the summer.

Reuters

Earlier today, the Ukrainian president issued his first comments on his forces’ invasion of Russia’s Kursk region.

There have been very few details released about the operation, with Ukrainian officials adopting a policy of secrecy over its goal and why it has taken place.

But in his nightly address, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to suggest the move has been made in retaliation to strikes conducted by Russian forces from Kursk.

Volodymyr ZelenskyyReuters

He said Russia deserved a “fair” response after it launched nearly 2,000 cross-border strikes at Ukraine’s Sumy region over the summer.

“Artillery, mortars, drones. We also record missile strikes, and each such strike deserves a fair response,” he said.

Reports have suggested that as many as 6,000 troops have crossed the border, and Ukrainian media outlets suggested today that Kyiv’s forces have also entered Russia’s Belgorod region.

Now six days into the invasion, US -based thinktank The Institute for the Study of War has said Ukrainian forces are largely holding their position in the Sudzha area of Kursk.

Russia has carried out an aerial weapons strike against Ukrainian forces in Kursk, the country’s defence ministry has said.

In a post on Telegram, it said “clusters of manpower, armoured and motor vehicles” were targeted.

“The strike was carried out with unguided aerial missiles against reconnaissance targets,” it said.

“After the use of the aerial weapons, the crews performed an anti-missile manoeuvre, released decoy flares and returned to the site of departure.”

It claimed the targets had been destroyed.

Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region was a moment that caught Moscow and the world by surprise.

It was the largest incursion into Russian territory since the start of the war.

While Ukrainian officials have remained tight-lipped over the details of the operation, we have seen Russia evacuating other areas near the border.

Here’s a timeline of what has happened in the invasion so far:

Ukrainian units launched the surprise operation in the Kursk border region on Tuesday 6 August.

By Wednesday 7 August, Ukrainian forces had advanced as much as 10km inside the Russian territory.

The US-based thinktank, the Institute for the Study of War, geolocated footage of Ukrainian forces in several locations and verified images showing Russian prisoners of war being taken at border checkpoints.

Ukrainian forces continued their advance on Thursday 8 August.

By Friday 9 August, a video emerged appearing to show Ukrainian soldiers in control of a local gas facility in the town of Sudzha.

Ukraine continued to expand their presence on Saturday 10 August.

Now six days into the invasion, this latest map shows that Ukrainian forces are largely holding their position, while the Russian military has evacuated 76,000 people from the area.

Ukrainian media outlets have also started reporting that Ukrainian forces appear to have entered Kursk’s neighbouring region of Belgorod, with a video showing them in the Russian village of Poroz.

Sky News has not been able to independently verify this.

Meanwhile, the Russian government has imposed a “counter-terror” operation in the three border regions of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk.

This allows authorities to relocate residents, confiscate vehicles and control phone communications.

People evacuating from the border areas of Russia’s Kursk region have been receiving aid from the Russian Red Cross.

Red Cross workers have been visiting temporary accommodation centres to help those who have fled, and a hotline has been set up to reunite relatives.

The Kursk office of the aid organisation said it received almost 3,000 calls in less than a day.

Around 76,000 residents have been evacuated so far, a Russian Emergencies Ministry spokesman said yesterday.

Ukraine’s invasion of the Russian region began earlier this week and has been considered an embarrassment to Russian military leaders, who were forced to scramble to contain the breach.

The exact aims of the operation remain unclear, and Ukrainian military officials have adopted a policy of secrecy, with little detail of the invasion released.

AP

Earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged fighting in Kursk for the first time.

He said he had discussed the operation with top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi.

“Today, I received several reports from commander-in-chief Syrskyi regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war on to the aggressor’s territory,” he said.

“Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor.”

Russia has been “stealing” Ukraine’s natural resources, the UK’s defence ministry has said.

In a post on X, the MoD said Russian troops had heavily mined Ukraine’s “resource-rich area” of Dniprorudne in Zaporizhzhia.

The “loot” had then been transported back to Russia for it to be used in the country or exported.

It said Moscow was trying to ruin Ukraine’s economic potential by taking its “most valuable assets”.

“Stealing resources from Ukraine entrenches the Russian occupation of these areas,” it added.

Away from the invasion of the Russian Kursk region, fighting is continuing in parts of Ukraine.

In Crimea – an area that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 –  the Ukrainian defence intelligence unit has claimed to have destroyed one of Moscow’s speed boats.

It said a special unit used a marine attack drone to target the vessel.

“As a result of the operation, three more watercraft of the invaders were also damaged,” it said.

Residents have gathered outside a building in Russia’s Kursk region that was damaged in an attack overnight.

A burnt-out car sits outside the building.

Thirteen people were injured in the Ukrainian drone and missile attack, the regional governor has said.

One woman was seen being wheeled into an ambulance on a stretcher.

Elsewhere, a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kyiv overnight killed two people – a man and his four-year-old son.

They were pulled from underneath the rubble of a building.

Pics: AP

Russia’s defence ministry has hit out at Ukraine’s invasion of the Kursk region, calling it “barbaric” and saying it made no military sense.

Ukraine has at most occupied several tens of square kilometres of Russian territory without laying claim to it.

However Russia controls more than 100,000 sq km of Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory.

It is thought the offensive could be aimed at drawing top Russian units away from Ukrainian frontlines.

As we’ve been reporting, we’ve entered a sixth day of fighting in Russia’s Kursk region after Ukrainian forces smashed through the border.

Here is some of the latest footage from the area, including a damage apartment building apparently hit by drone debris and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The Russian defence ministry also shared footage that it said showed a Ukrainian tank being destroyed.