Moscow’s government said on Saturday that more than 76,000 people had been evacuated so far after Kyiv launched an incursion into Kursk last week.
Ukraine launched drone and missile attacks on several Russian border regions overnight, according to Moscow authorities, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the ongoing push into Russian territory for the first time.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said early on Sunday that its air defenses had destroyed 14 drones and four Tochka-U tactical missiles over the border Kursk region, as well as 16 drones over the Voronezh region to the east and three uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) over Belgorod. Drones were also shot down over the Bryansk and Oryol regions, Moscow said.
A downed Ukrainian missile fell on a multistory building in the city of Kursk overnight, injuring 13 people, Kursk acting regional governor Alexei Smirov said in post to messaging app Telegram. In a separate statement carried by Russian state media on Sunday, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said 69 people who were injured in shelling on the Kursk region were being treated in hospital.
Zelensky said on Saturday that he had heard from Kyiv’s army chief, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, about “actions to push the war out into the aggressor’s territory.
