Ukraine launched a second offensive into Russia early this morning, sending yet more ground units supported by a contingent of tanks into the Belgorod region as fighting continues to rage in Kursk.
Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov issued an evacuation alert to thousands of Russians living in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district around 5am this morning amid reports that tanks and troops were massing along the Ukrainian border.
Hours later, Russian news site Mash reported that a Ukrainian ‘sabotage group supported by at least four tanks’ breached the border and entered the town of Kolotilovka in Belgorod, roughly 25 miles south of Sudzha in Kursk that Kyiv‘s forces are fighting to encircle.
The shock new offensive comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky finally acknowledged his forces were behind the attacks on Russian soil, where they are seeking to ‘restore justice’.
But analysts largely agree the incursion aims to show Western supporters that Kyiv can still muster major military operations while trying to gain a bargaining chip ahead of possible ceasefire talks.
Meanwhile, fears of a nuclear disaster were heightened yesterday when a fire broke out in a cooling tower at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP), with Moscow and Kyiv trading blame – though the fire was extinguished late last night.
This morning’s attack in Belgorod comes just days after Kyiv’s forces staged their biggest incursion into sovereign Russian territory since the start of the 2022 war.
Ukraine over the weekend released footage of new Russian prisoners of war.
