Another Russian region declares emergency as Ukrainian forces move deeper into Kursk

CGTN Europe

A state of emergency has been declared in Belgorod as Ukraine’s offensive in Kursk enters its second week.  Reports suggest that Ukraine has launched its largest drone attack of this conflict so far.  Dasha Chernyshova and Megumi Lim have the details from Moscow and Kyiv.   #ukraine #russia #belgorod #kursk

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00:00Well, the regional state of emergency that has been declared in Belgrade region has been

00:05explained as by the need of extra security for the civilian population of this region

00:12because according to the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, the region has been under daily attacks

00:18from the Ukrainian side as a result of the shelling, as a result of drone strikes.

00:22The civilian population has been suffering the wounds, the deaths, all that has been

00:28launched in this area and that's why he said, looking further, the authorities will appeal

00:35to the government to translate the regional state of emergency into the federal emergency.

00:40We understand that more people have been evacuated from the neighbouring Kursk region over the

00:44course of the past days and overnight there have been at least 117 drones coming from

00:51the Ukrainian side against the Russian regions.

00:53In Belgrade there were 17, in the Kursk region there were 37, in the Voronezh region there

00:58were another 37, so this is the daily process and we understand from the words of the Russian

01:04officials that the Ukrainian incursion against the Russian territory has put the possibility

01:10of holding the ceasefire negotiations on the long pause.

01:14As you suggest, fighting continues in Kursk.

01:18How is Russia responding?

01:21Well, so far the Russian Ministry of Defence, once again, saying that they have been preventing

01:29and repelling the Ukrainian attempts to get deeper inside the Kursk region.

01:34They say they have been attacking the mobile groups of the Ukrainian military inside Russia

01:39and they are now saying that the Ukrainian so-called blitzkrieg has failed.

01:46Some of senior commanders within the Russian military have been quoted by the Russian media

01:50saying that the goal of Ukraine was actually to come to the city of Kurchatov to take the

01:55control of the nuclear power plants there and then to start the peace negotiations,

02:01but that blitzkrieg, according to Moscow, has failed.

02:04We also understand that the security measures have indeed been strengthened, especially

02:09at the nuclear sites, but what is important at the moment for Moscow is to make sure that

02:13the Ukrainian troops are outside the Russian sovereign territory.

02:18Dasha, thank you for that.

02:20Our correspondent Dasha Chernysheva in Moscow.

02:22Well, that's the view from Russia.

02:24Let's take you next to Ukraine and talk to our correspondent Magumi Lim, who's in Kyiv.

02:30Magumi, Ukraine reportedly launched the biggest drone attack of this conflict so far.

02:43That's right.

02:44In combination with their ground incursion into Russia's Kursk region, it looks like

02:48Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have stepped up their air attacks against the military targets

02:54inside Russia overnight.

02:56Russia said that it shot down 117 Ukrainian drones and four missiles over several regions,

03:02including Kursk and Belgorod.

03:04And Ukraine has said that it managed to strike four Russian air bases.

03:09Now, this would mark the biggest drone attack carried out by Ukrainian forces against Russia

03:14since the start of the full-scale war, but it will also mark the biggest attack against

03:18the Russian air bases since the conflict began.

03:22Now, one of the air bases where explosions were reported in the Nizhny Novgorod region

03:28is known to house Russian MiG-31K fighter jets.

03:31These are capable of carrying Kinzhal ballistic missiles.

03:35And just to give you an idea of how important these strikes are for Ukraine, whenever one

03:39of these jets take off, it triggers a nationwide air raid alert inside Ukraine and has been

03:45a major source of stress for Ukrainians here.

03:49So now we're seeing a multi-pronged attack carrying, attacks carried out by Ukrainian

03:54forces on the ground inside Kursk, but also through air attacks.

03:59And the goal is pretty clear for Ukraine, they're still trying to continue to cripple

04:05Moscow's ability to carry out their military operations inside Ukraine.

04:10Meanwhile, the United Nations nuclear watchdog has been speaking about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear

04:16power station.

04:22That's right, the nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, gave an update on what caused the fire at

04:27the Zaporizhzhia, Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Monday.

04:32They've said that they still have not been able to determine the exact cause of the fire,

04:37but they've said that they found foreign objects, material visible from the damaged cooling

04:43tower.

04:44But they've said that they have evidence that the fire, in fact, didn't start at the base

04:48of this damaged cooling tower, as previously understood.

04:51Now, on Monday, Russia and Ukraine did trade blame for the fire that broke out.

04:56Russia said that Ukrainian drones caused the blaze, and Ukraine said that Russia started

05:01the fire.

05:02Now, this Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is located very, very close to the front lines,

05:07and so incidents like these are very common and has been a major source of concern for

05:12the IAEA.

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