A federal emergency has been declared in Russia’s Belgorod Region amid a cross-border incursion by Ukrainian forces, the Emergencies Ministry in Moscow has announced.
Last week, Kiev launched its largest attack on Russian territory since the outbreak of the conflict in February 2022. The incursion focused on Kursk Region, where Ukrainian troops still hold a number of settlements and where a federal emergency was declared on Friday.
However, the neighboring Belgorod and Bryansk regions have also been affected and Moscow has launched counterterrorist operations in each.
The decision to declare a federal emergency in Belgorod Region was made during a government meeting in Moscow on Thursday, in which Emergencies Minister Aleksandr Kurenkov and Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov both participated.
The situation in Belgorod Region “remains difficult and tense,” Kurenkov said. “As a result of terrorist attacks by the Ukrainian armed units… residential buildings and infrastructure facilities have been damaged, there are killed and wounded among the civilians,” he stressed.
The local authorities are providing “comprehensive assistance” to the population, but the region lacks the capacity to deal with the aftermath of the incursion on its own, the minister said, explaining the decision to announce a federal-level response.
The measure means that people whose relatives have been killed, have been wounded themselves, or have had their property damaged as a result of the Ukrainian attack can apply for compensation from the Russian state.
It also allows the authorities to restrict access to the emergency area, carry out mandatory evacuations, and commandeer personal vehicles for government needs, among other actions.
Moscow’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine had lost up to 340 troops and 19 pieces of equipment, including five US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, during clashes in Russian border regions over the past 24 hours.
Overall, Kiev lost some 2,640 servicemen and several hundred units of military hardware since the start of the incursion, including 37 tanks and 32 APCs, the ministry added. “The operation to destroy the Ukrainian armed units continues,” it said.