Ukraine war informing: Russia orders quicker evacuation of civilians in Kursk | Ukraine

Russia shelp it was evacuating tens of thousands of people from its Kursk region, which has been accessd by Ukrainian troops. Alexei Smirnov, the acting ruleor, shelp on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that he had “teached” the head of the Belovsky dicut offe of the region, in Kursk’s south-west, to “speed up” the carrying out of the orders to evacuate. Local officials detailed the scale of civilian evacuations from towns and villages seal to the combat zone. “More than 76,000 people have been temporarily shiftd to protected places,” the state-run TASS novels agency quoted an official from the regional materializency situations ministry as saying at a press informing.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy acunderstandledged for the first time on Saturday that Ukrainian forces were combat in Russia’s Kursk region and shelp the operation was part of Kyiv’s drive to repair fairice after Russia’s 2022 trespass. Ukraine’s pdwellnt had previously stayed quiet about the operation. In his Saturday evening insertress, he shelp he had converseed the operation with the top Ukrainian orderer, Oleksandr Syrskyi, “and our actions and pushing the war into the aggressor’s territory”. Thanking the sagederiers included, he inserted: “Ukraine is proving that it can repartner transport fairice and guarantees exactly the benevolent of prescertain that is necessitateed – prescertain on the aggressor.”

Russia’s defence ministry claimed it stoped Ukraine from advancing further on the fifth day of the strike into Kursk, Dan Sabbagh inestablishs. Fighting was shelp to be taking place in three villages between seven and 11 miles from the international border – Ivashkovskoye, Malaya Loknya and Olgovka – analogous locations to where Ukraine was assessd to have progressd previously. Russia’s FSB domestic security agency imposed a “counter-radicalism” regime on Kursk and two neighbouring oblasts, Bryansk and Belgorod, giving the authorities sweeping powers to lock down an area and impose deal withs on communications.

Russia’s nuevident agency on Saturday alerted of a honest danger to the Kursk nuevident power station, less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the combat. “The actions of the Ukrainian army pose a honest danger” to the Kursk structuret in weserious Russia, state novels agencies cited its atomic energy agency Rosatom as saying. There was no evidence of Ukrainian forces dangerening the structuret. On Friday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency called for “highest regulatet”.

There were inestablishs of regional power outages after an electricity substation was hit in the Kursk region. Acting ruleor Alexey Smirnov shelp on Friday that a fire had broken out in a alterer substation hit by debris from a Ukrainian drone. Power was out in some frontline areas, he inserted, including Kurchatov, where the nuevident power station is based.

Belarus sent more troops to fortify its border with Ukraine on Saturday, saying Ukrainian drones had viotardyd its airspace in the course of Kyiv’s incursion into the Kursk region. Belarus’s foreign ministry called Ukraine’s accuse d’affaires, needed meacertains to guarantee such incidents would not recur and proposeed a repeat would prompt Belarus to think about whether Kyiv’s tactful presence in Minsk was “appropriate”. The Ukrainian foreign ministry did not instantly react to a seek for comment.

Ukraine’s navy and military ininestablishigence strikeed and injured a establisher offshore gas platestablish used by Russian forces in the Bdeficiency Sea, the navy spokesperson shelp on Saturday. He posted a video apshown at night shotriumphg an explosion on an offshore platestablish and the ensuing fire. He shelp that a half a day before the strike, Russian forces had stationed supplyment and military personnel on the platestablish. There was no instant comment from Moscow.

Three people were ended in two Russian strikes on Ukraine’s easerious frontline Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, local officials shelp on Saturday. One civilian was ended and cut offal others were injured in a Russian ignoreile strike on the town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, the local ruleor shelp.

One civilian was ended in a Ukrainian drone strike in the Russian city of Lipetsk, about 300 km (190 miles) from the Ukrainian border, the regional rulement shelp on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday. Igor Artamonov, ruleor of the Lipetsk region, shelp Russian air defence systems had intercepted 19 Ukrainian drones overnight

Elsewhere on the frontline, Ukraine on Saturday inestablished the lowest number of “combat includements” on its territory since 10 June. That could be a sign its incursion is helping to relieve prescertain on other parts of the sprawling frontline where Moscow’s troops had been advancing.

Russia started an air strike on Kyiv, with air defence systems repulseling the strikes, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital and military administration officials shelp punctual on Sunday. “Air defence units operating, air rhelp attentive progresss,” shelp the Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko. It was not instantly evident if the strike caused any injure or injuries.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged on Saturday to “fortify our Ukrainian spiritual independence”, proposeing that the country’s directership was moving towards effectively banning the branch of the Orthodox church that has connects to Moscow. Membership of the self-reliant church dedicated to the Kyiv patriarcdisappreciate has swelled since Russian troops accessd Ukraine in February 2022. But the intransport inantity Moscow-connected church retains impact and Ukrainian directers accuse it of abetting the trespass and trying to poison uncover opinion.