Russia Imposes Security Regime on Three Border Regions after Major Ukrainian Attack
Sudan Events – Agencies
Russia imposed a sweeping security regime in three border regions on Saturday as Moscow scrambled forces to counter Ukraine’s biggest attack on Russian sovereign territory since the start of the war in 2022.
Ukrainian forces rammed through the Russian border early on Tuesday and swept across some Western parts of Russia’s Kursk region, a surprise attack that may be aimed at gaining leverage in possible ceasefire talks after the US election.
Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), ordered an anti-terrorist regime be imposed on Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions – which have a combined area of nearly 92,000 square km.
“The Kyiv regime has made an unprecedented attempt to destabilize the situation in a number of regions of our country,” the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said, adding that there had been civilian casualties.
The measures essentially give the security services sweeping powers to lock down an area, including controls on communications and limits on a host of usual freedoms. Thousands of civilians have been evacuated from Kursk region.
Some reports said Ukrainian forces were pushing towards the Kursk nuclear power station, which supplies a major chunk of southern Russia’s electricity. It has a total six reactors, two shutdowns, two under construction and two operational.
The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said drone debris had fallen on a power substation near Kurchatov, the town which serves the Kursk nuclear station.
The head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency noted the “significant military activity” in the area and called for restraint.
Russian diplomats in Vienna told the IAEA that fragments, possibly from downed missiles, had been found, though there was no evidence of an attack on the station.
