Vladimir Putin is set to receive a request to impose a federal state of emergency on a second border region facing renewed attacks from Ukraine.
The Governor of Belgorod Oblast, Vyacheslav Gladkov, declared a regional state of emergency in the early hours of August 14 and confirmed he would file a request with Moscow to increase it to a state emergency.
Belgorod Oblast borders Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and neighbours Kursk Oblast, which has been at the heart of an ongoing Ukrainian cross-border operation since last week.
Gladkov reported civilian casualties and extensive damage, including destroyed homes, as he said the situation had become “extremely difficult” as Ukraine ramped up its drone attacks campaign.
An apartment building in Shabekino suffered extensive fire and structural damage because of the strike but no casualty was reported.
The escalation in Belgorod comes as Ukraine continues to infiltrate the nearby region of Kursk to the embarrassment of Moscow.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said the cross-border operation was aimed at protecting Ukrainian land from long-range strikes launched from Kursk.
Mr Tykhyi said Russia had launched more than 2,000 strikes from the Kursk region in recent months using anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, mortars, drones, 255 glide bombs and more than 100 missiles.
Ukraine is believed to have assembled thousands of troops — some Western analysts estimate up to 12,000 — on the border in recent weeks without Russia noticing or acting.
About 121,000 people have been evacuated from Kursk or have fled the areas affected by fighting on their own, Russian officials say.
Washington-based think tank The Institute for the Study of War said it had seen geolocated footage indicating that Ukrainian forces advanced as much as 15 miles from the border.
Russian state television on Tuesday showed residents from evacuated areas lining up in buildings and on the street to receive food and water.
Volunteers were pictured distributing bags of aid, while officials from the country’s Ministry of Emergency Situations helped people, including children and older people, off buses.
An older man called Mikhail told Russian state television: “There is no light, no connection, no water. There is nothing. It’s as if everyone has flown to another planet, and you are left alone. And the birds stopped singing.
“Helicopters and planes fly over the yard and shells were flying. What could we do? We left everything behind.”