INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
they launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk region early Tuesday
At least five people were killed, dozens injured and thousands of civilians evacuated.Acting Kursk region Governor Alexei Smirnov said he
Staff and Federal Security Service (FSB) border guards afterward to hear a report about the situation in the Kursk region.Later Wednesday,
to introduce a state of emergency in the Kursk region from 7 August," Smirnov said in a post on Telegram.Some Russian military bloggers were
reporting Ukrainian troops had reached the town of Sudzha, some eight kilometers (five miles) from the border, and were shelling it
constantly.The small town of about 5,000 people is home to the Sudzha metering station, the last major transit point for Russian pipeline
gas still heading to Europe.A priest in the town, Yevgeny Shestopalov, said in a video shared by Russian media that Sudzha was "on fire" and
that residents unable to evacuate were sheltering at his church."Our church is full of people, children, not everyone has shelters, not
everyone can leave," he said."There is no transport running, so we are gathering people in the church," he added.The Chief of Russia's
General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said up 1,000 combatants from Ukraine had been involved in the offensive.Ukraine did not immediately
comment.Authorities in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, just across the border from Kursk, announced they were evacuating about 6,000
people, without elaborating.AFP contributed reporting.
