The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has declared a federal state of emergency in the Kursk region after reporting new incursions by Ukrainian forces into Russian territory.

“We have just established a federal level of emergency response in the region,” the department said in a message posted on its Telegram account, which represents a higher level of assistance to the population, which is activated when “there is extensive property damage or a significant number of victims.”

Almost at the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that over the past 24 hours, Russian forces have managed to stop “incursion operations by enemy units deep into the territory.” Russia has confirmed that it has attacked Ukrainian positions in five towns in Kursk: Daryino, Gogolevka, Melovoy, Nikolsk and the western outskirts of Sudzha.

The deputy head of the military-political department of the Russian Ministry of Defense and commander of the Akhmat special unit, Apti Alaudinov, estimated on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces have advanced about ten kilometers into Russian territory. Experts from the think tank of the Institute for the Study of War estimate that the offensive has penetrated up to 35 kilometers into Russia.

Kursk has been under emergency since the evening of August 7, a day and a half after the first reports of the Ukrainian incursions — some 300 troops with 11 tanks and 200 armored vehicles that crossed the border from Ukraine’s northern Sumy region — which have so far left, according to Russia, five dead and 66 wounded, including nine children.

In a later report, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that 55 of the injured were hospitalized and 12 of them were in serious condition.

Russia sends reinforcements

In recent hours, the Russian Ministry of Defense has also announced the dispatch of additional troops and military equipment from Kursk to prevent the progress of Ukrainian forces.

Specifically, the Ministry has reported the deployment of artillery, tanks and armoured vehicles, as well as MLRS self-propelled rocket launchers.

The Russian mercenary group Wagner has also offered to participate in the Russian defence of Kursk, according to a statement published by its Command Council and reported by the Russian channel RBC.

“From the first day, from the first combat mission, we had only one goal: to defend the interests of the Fatherland, to help Russia prosper and to protect the Russian people. And we are ready to defend it until the last drop of blood,” they said.

Similarly, the Russian Armed Forces have attacked this Friday with an FAB-3000 model aerial bomb an area of ​​concentration of troops and weapons of the Ukrainian Army in the Sumi region, located in the northwest of the country and from where, according to Moscow, kyiv has launched its ground incursion in Kursk.

“The crew of a Su-34 multi-purpose supersonic fighter-bomber of the Aerospace Forces attacked a concentration of personnel and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the identified temporary deployment point in one of the districts of the Sumi region,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.