Russia evacuates second border zone as Ukraine continues incursion

Stay up to date with free updates

Simply register at War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered straight to your inbox.

Russia ordered the evacuation of settlements from a second border region on Monday, a week after Ukraine’s surprise offensive on Russian territory.

In addition to the Kursk region, Ukrainian forces launched attacks in the southern Belgorod area, according to Russian authorities, in what was Ukraine’s biggest incursion since World War II. Kiev occupied at least 140 square km, despite Russia deploying reinforcements to the areas, according to Ukrainian military-linked war analysis site Deepstate.

The ruble fell 1.9 percent to trade at 90 to the dollar, its weakest level since May.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said early Monday that there was “enemy activity on the border” and that residents of five settlements in Krasnoyaruzhsky district, which borders Ukraine’s Sumy region, should evacuate.

Ukrainian forces had bombed the area, destroying a house and a power line, according to Gladkov.

More than 76,000 civilians have been evacuated from the Kursk border region by Saturday, according to regional authorities.

Russia’s Defense Ministry asked regional authorities to cut power to several settlements in Belgorod’s Grayvoronskyi district, which also borders Ukraine, Gladkov said.

Russian military blogger Alexander Kots claimed that a small number of Ukrainian forces tried to cross the border at the Kolotilovka checkpoint in Krasnoyaruzhsky district, as well as the Bezymeno checkpoint in Grayvoronskyi, but were repulsed.

Kotz said Ukrainian forces were looking for places where they could cross. The Financial Times could not verify the claims.

In June 2023, Ukrainian forces conducted a raid in the Grayvoronskyi district, which analysts saw as an attempt to demonstrate Russia’s weak border defenses.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday – in a thinly veiled reference to the Kursk operation – that Ukraine wants to “push the war into the territory of the aggressor” and put “pressure” on Russia to “restore justice”.

Ukrainian officials have been tight-lipped about the operations, but analysts say they could be aimed at diverting Russian forces and using captured territory as leverage in potential talks. Ukrainian forces are struggling to hold the line in the eastern Donbas region, where Russian troops have made some territorial gains.

Separately, Ukraine claimed that Russia started a fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian occupation since March 2022.

Zelenskyy said radiation levels were normal, but warned that as long as Russia controlled the plant, there was a threat.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has access to the plant, said it had been told there had been a drone attack on one of the cooling towers.

“No impact on nuclear safety has been reported,” the IAEA said in a statement posted on X.

Rosatom, the Russian state company that operates the facility, said the “main fire” was extinguished shortly before midnight on Sunday.