Vladimir Putin orders 76,000 people to evacuate Kursk as Ukraine invasion storms deeper into Russia
Vladimir Putin has ordered 76,000 people to evacuate as his soldiers scramble to defend the war-torn region of Kursk.
Vladimir Putin has ordered over 76,000 Kursk residents to evacuate the war-torn region amid Ukraine’s bold invasion.
Residents from the border areas of the Russian territory have all been made to flee after some five days of Ukrainian attacks, The Sun reports.
Kyiv launched the campaign – the first invasion of Russia since World War 2 – as they went on the offensive and pushed back against Putin’s army who steamed across the border in February 2022.
Huge numbers of locals in Russia’s border region of Kursk are now being forced out of their homes
Russian authorities are setting up temporary accommodation in eight regions – with up to 60 shelters.
It comes as Putin has reportedly been left “scared and seething” by the invasion.
Thousands of Ukrainian troops are understood to be involved in the operation.
And they are reported to have killed hundreds of Russian troops, blitzed a key airfield, and spread chaos in Putin’s own backyard.
Russian politician Artem Sharov announced the evacuation.
He said: “An Interdepartmental Operational Headquarters for providing assistance to the population in the border areas of the Kursk Region has been deployed and continues to operate in the city of Kursk.
“The priority area of the operational headquarters’ work is the resettlement of residents of these areas to safe places.
“In total, more than 76 thousand people have been temporarily resettled to safe places since the beginning of this work.”
People have been seen flocking out of the blitzed region on buses, trains and cars after repeated strikes in the last few days.
Putin’s war machine has been rushing to halt any further surprise Ukrainian offensives as they wrestle to gain back territory and prevent Kyiv from gaining a foothold.
Moscow launched a massive “counter-terror operation” in three regions on Saturday as the defence ministry announced a major deployment of their military capabilities over to the front lines.
In a statement to local media they said Russia is moving “multiple rocket launchers, towed artillery guns, tanks transported on trawls, heavy tracked vehicles and Ural and Kamaz trucks”.
They are being sent to defend Kursk’s Sudzhansky District which has been at the heart of Ukrainian attacks since Tuesday morning.
Despite the emergency deployment of troops the ministry claim they have now prevented Ukraine from advancing further into Russian land.
They declared they had “thwarted the attempts of the enemy’s mobile groups to get to the depth of the Russian territory”.
The Russian army has even used a thermobaric bomb to suffocate its targets, say reports.
But, further reports of regional power outages and even a giant fireball blast on a gas rig in the Black Sea suggest fighting is set to continue.
Ukrainian blitz has Russia scrambling
Putin is said to be “seething” over the Ukrainian blitz that has seen Russia scrambling to defend itself this week, claim insiders.
Ukraine’s devastating surge into several Russian villages has been a “slap in the face” for a moody Putin as his flailing war continues to stutter.
A Kremlin official told the Russian outlet Politika. Kozlov that Ukraine’s mini invasion has “made Putin nervous” as he struggles to defend against the oncoming army of trucks, tanks and loyal soldiers.
“This is a slap in the face for the president. We have been unable to push the enemy back,” they added.
The humiliated tyrant is even said to be battling against his own men.
An army general reportedly accused the Kremlin leadership of dismissing clear intelligence warnings of the huge Kyiv counter-invasion.
Despite Russia’s strong reaction, Ukraine has continued to disrupt Putin’s plans.
On Friday a column of Russian troops being deployed to halt the invasion were ruthlessly eliminated.
Shocking footage shows a 400-strong military unit moments after it was blasted – with bodies pilling up on the road and inside of the burnt-out service trucks.
The men were taken out by a HIMARS missile strike which directly blasted the convoy of 14 trucks.
The horrific trail of exploded trucks covered well over 30 metres of road in the war-torn Kursk region.
The exact number of deaths is still unconfirmed but it is set to mark one of the most crushing attacks of the war for Russia so far.
Terrified Russians in the area have been forced to escape due to the continued drone and missile strikes.
Footage shows civilians driving away from their homes in huge numbers after Russian officials were made to declare a state of emergency after the shock invasion.
On Thursday, reports claimed Ukraine had advanced up to 20 miles inside Russia – leaving Putin humiliated by being caught out.
He blasted the attack as a “large-scale provocation”.
Ukraine’s army is said to be looking to keep control of Kursk and the surrounding regions for as long as possible despite Russia calling on reinforcements.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia needed to “feel” the consequences of its invasion which started over two years ago.
An adviser to the brave Ukrainian leader says the plan is to disrupt Putin’s regime and force him onto the negotiating table.
To strengthen their position, Zelensky has reportedly asked the US to allow them to use long-range ATACMS missiles to strike airfields used by Russia.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission
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