Russia on Saturday said that it had evacuated tens of thousands of people from its border region and launched a “counter-terror operation” as it struggled to contain a major Ukrainian incursion.
At the same time, Moscow said that the fighting in Russia’s western Kursk region was endangering a nuclear power plant.
Ukrainian units stormed across the border on Tuesday morning in what is the largest and most successful offensive by Kyiv in the two-and-a-half-year conflict.
Photo: Reuters
Its troops have advanced several kilometers, forcing Russia’s army to rush in reserves and extra equipment — although neither side has given precise details on the forces committed.
Local officials detailed the scale of civilian evacuations from towns and villages close to the combat zone.
“More than 76,000 people have been temporarily relocated to safe places,” the state-run TASS news agency quoted an official from the regional emergency situations ministry telling a briefing on Saturday.
Emergency aid has been ferried into the border area and extra trains to Moscow have been arranged for people fleeing the fighting.
“The war has come to us,” said one woman — who declined to give her name — after arriving at a Moscow train station on Friday.
However, late on Saturday air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
Agence France-Presse journalists said they saw least two flashes in the night sky, and the Ukrainian Air Force said five other regions were being attacked by drones.
Kyiv has maintained strict operational silence on the offensive and for several days Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made only oblique references to the fighting there.
However, in an address on Saturday evening, Zelenskiy referred to Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky’s briefings “on the front line and our actions and pushing the war into the aggressor’s territory.”
Thanking the soldiers involved, he added: “Ukraine is proving that it can really bring justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed — pressure on the aggressor.”
Russia’s army on Saturday said it was still fighting the Ukrainian incursion for a fifth day.
It said Kyiv’s forces had initially crossed the border with about 1,000 troops, 20 armored vehicles and 11 tanks, although it said on Saturday that it had destroyed five times that much military hardware so far.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
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