KYIV, Ukraine — Russia announced increased security measures Saturday in the border region of Kursk, where an incursion by Ukrainian forces caught Russian troops off guard and exposed its military vulnerabilities in the nearly 2½-year-old war.
There was fighting on the outskirts of Sudzha, about 6 miles from the Ukraine border. The town has an important pipeline transit hub for Russian natural gas exports to Europe.
The measures announced for Kursk, and the neighboring Belgorod and Bryansk regions that border Ukraine, allow the government to relocate residents, control phone communications and requisition vehicles.
The raid began Tuesday and is the largest cross-border foray of the war. It raises concerns about fighting spreading beyond Ukraine. The strategic aims of the operation are unclear and there is little reliable information, as Ukrainian officials refused to comment on the incursion, about 320 miles southwest of Moscow.
In one video posted late Friday, soldiers purported to be from the 61st Brigade hold a Ukrainian flag appear to be standing outside a local Gazprom facility in Sudzha based on sign in the background.
“Everything is calm in the town,” they say, adding, “All the buildings are safe, strategic object of Gazprom in Sudzha is under the control of the 99th Mechanized Battalion.”
A press officer for the brigade said they couldn’t comment on the authenticity of the video. The Associated Press established that there is a Gazprom facility about 1¼ miles from the center of Sudzha, in a neighboring village on the outskirts of the town about 5 miles from the border.
In another video, Ukrainian soldiers from the 252 Battalion claim to be standing in the village of Poroz in Russia’s Belgorod region, nearly 2 miles from the border. The video marks the first time any incursion into that area was reported. The AP geolocated the building where the soldiers stood, but couldn’t determine when the videos were shot.
Asked about the incursion, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday the U.S. was “in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts” but he wouldn’t comment until “those conversations are complete.”
“There’s been no changes in our policy approaches,” Kirby said when asked about U.S. policy on use of weapons. “They’re using it in an area where we had said before that they could use U.S. weapons for cross-border strikes. The end goal here is to help Ukraine defend itself.”…Read more by SAMYA KULLAB AND JIM HEINTZ Associated Press
