RUSSIA, BELGOROD, Aug 15 —  In the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, a “federal state of emergency” has been declared, according to the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Fighting in the Kursk region began on the morning of August 6, 2024, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border near the town of Sudzha. On August 13, Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces control 74 settlements in the Kursk region.

Federal emergency was approved by Moscow’s emergency officials and announced by Russia’s Emergency Situations Minister Alexandr Kurenkov who called the situation in the region “complex and tense” due to Ukraine’s “terrorist attacks.” 

Russia often attacks the Kharkiv region from Belgorod Oblast, in particular with S-300 missiles and glide bombs. Its territory is located between Russian Kursk Oblast and Ukraine’s Kharkiv Oblast. 

Governor Gladkov called for authorities to declare a federal emergency there on August 14. 

Vyacheslav Gladkov also claimed that Ukrainian drones attacked settlements in the Belgorod region. According to him, four civilians were injured, including ambulance paramedics. On August 12, Gladkov announced the start of the evacuation of the population from the border district of Krasnoyaruzsk due to “enemy activity”. 

“Ukraine doesn’t aim to occupy [Russian] territory, but wages a defensive war and destroys only military objects. Social objects remain under Russian control; they have no value to Ukraine,” Mykhailo Podoliak, an advisor to Ukraine’s presidential administration, said in an interview to the Russian media outlet Meduza on August 15.

On August 13, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said, “Ukraine is not interested in taking the territory of the Kursk region, but we want to protect the lives of our people. Since the beginning of this summer, more than 2,000 strikes have been [launched] from the areas of the Kursk region and only at the areas of our Sumy region of Ukraine. The Russians [attacked the region] with rockets, tube artillery, mortars, drones, 255 guided bombs, more than a hundred missiles.”  

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