Up to 20,000 Sumy Oblast residents need evacuation amid fighting in nearby Kursk Oblast, police says
About 20,000 people need to be evacuated from settlements in Sumy Oblast as Russia intensifies its attacks against the region, Ukraine's National Police said on Aug. 9.
Over the past day, Russian troops have significantly increased the use of guided aerial bombs near the border areas of Sumy Oblast, Governor Volodymyr Artiukh said.
The evacuation continues after the local authorities ordered further mandatory evacuation of 28 settlements in the region. They are located within a 10-kilometer zone that comes under Russian fire.
The announcement coincides with Ukraine's cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast that began on Aug. 6. Fighting has continued in the region, with Ukraine reportedly making gains deeper into Russian territory.
Russia's Defense Ministry acknowledged on Aug. 9 that its forces were fighting the Ukrainian army on the outskirts of the town of Sudzha.
Earlier in the day, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said that the situation in the Kursk region has been declared a "federal emergency."
Kyiv has so far maintained a policy of silence, but President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 8 that "Russia brought war to our land, and it should feel what it has done." He did not directly mention the incursion into the Kursk region.
Francis Farrell
