Russia declares emergency after Ukrainian incursion

Russia is pouring government resources into the province of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces are mounting a crossborder attack. Kremlin-run news outlet RT reported that Russia declared a federal emergency in the region where Ukrainian forces pierced the front line at several locations on Tuesday. Kyiv’s forces have remained in Russian territory since then, but the Kremlin insists it has stopped any further advances.

The situation remained complicated on Friday, Kursk’s governor Alexey Smirnov said in a report by another state-run news outlet, TASS. The Russian government was providing humanitarian aid to citizens forced to flee, Smirnov said. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called the attack a “large-scale provocation” in an emergency meeting following the incursion. He accused Ukrainian forces of targeting civilians with rocket strikes.

What is the situation on the battlefield? Both TASS and RT reported Friday that Ukrainian forces had lost roughly 1,000 troops and more than 100 vehicles in the attack. Members of the pro-Ukraine mercenary group the Georgian Legion are reportedly taking part in the incursion, according to RT. Those numbers roughly match the Kremlin’s estimates for how many Ukrainian troops initially stormed the front line, but the violence still continued as of Friday.

What is Ukraine’s strategy? President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have largely refrained from public comment on the incursion. On Friday he issued a statement thanking Ukrainian forces for destroying Russian units and ensuring that Ukraine remained on the map. One of Zelenskyy’s senior aides, Mikhail Podoliak, said in a television interview that the objective of the incursion was to sow fear in Russia because that was all Russians responded to, RT reported. The attack also sought to secure a stronger bargaining position in eventual peace talks with the Kremlin, Podoliak said.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift from earlier this week covering Ukraine’s incursion and Russia’s attempts to push back.