Russian barrage after Kyiv incursion

A fire broke out at a Russian military airfield hundreds of kilometres from the Ukrainian border on Friday.

A Russian ambulance is abandoned after being attacked on the highway outside the town of Sudzha on Thursday. Picture: AFP

A fire broke out at a Russian military airfield hundreds of kilometres from the Ukrainian border, state media reported on Friday, with authorities ordering evacuations in the area because of a “massive” drone attack.

The attack in Lipetsk region came as pro-Kyiv forces pressed a new cross-border offensive in neighbouring Kursk, in what appears to be the most significant attack on Russian soil since the conflict in Ukraine began.

Ukrainian villagers living close to the border in Kursk were being told to move after Moscow launched a barrage of airstrikes in retaliation for an assault into the Kursk region.

As Kyiv’s forces continued to press into Russian territory for a third day, more than 6000 villagers were told to leave their homes after an unprecedented 56 glide bombs were dropped in 24 hours on the Sumy region, which abuts Kursk.

Locals who remained in Pysarivka, a village 40km from the border, said they woke on Thursday to the sound of explosions.

One glide bomb fell on a playground in the nearby village of Mohrytsia killing a young man and his six-year-old brother, military officials said.

Glide bombs are projectiles fitted with wings and navigation systems that Russia has used to devastating effect.

A Russian T-72 tank outside the town of Sudzha on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Ivan Levoshenko, 65, said one of the bombs fell behind his house. “I was born here,” he said, “and I’m not leaving.”

Mr Levoshenko said he noticed a growing military presence before the cross-border incursion, which began on Tuesday morning.

“I’m glad that we are taking the fight to them,” he said.

Reports by pro-Kremlin bloggers suggested on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had advanced as far as 21km north of the border. The Times saw a convoy of tanks and armoured vehicles heading towards the border from Sumy, along with a helicopter.

Russia’s defence ministry said the advance had been halted but the army was still engaged in fierce fighting.

Rybar, a blogger with links to the Russian army, said Ukraine “practically had full control” of Sudzha, a town 10km from the border that is the only entry point for Russian gas into Europe.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday night that Russia needed to feel the consequences of its war.

“Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done,” Mr Zelensky said in his evening address, without directly referring to the offensive.

“Ukrainians know how to achieve their goals. And we did not choose to achieve our goals in the war.”

Russian media reported that fighters from Wagner, the mercenary group, were being sent to the Kursk region.

A Ukrainian military project said in a statement that its troops had captured some Russians, both conscripts and contract soldiers. It added: “There is also information about the dead whose bodies were not taken away by their comrades-in-arms during the retreat.”

THE TIMES