Ukraine takes management of fuel plant and Russian city

Ukraine has claimed it has taken control of a Russian town that is home to a prominent gas pipeline. 

Ukrainian soldiers claiming to be from the 61st Brigade were filmed standing outside a local Gazprom facility in the town of Sudzha which is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Ukraine border.

The soldiers can be heard saying: ‘Everything is calm in the town. All the buildings are safe, strategic object of Gazprom in Sudzha is under the control of the 99th Mechanized Battalion.’ 

It could not be immediately ascertained as to the authenticity of the video, with a press officer for the brigade saying they were unable to provide a comment.

Elsewhere, shelling continued through the night in the town of Shebekino in Russia’s Belgorod region following Ukraine’s surprise incursion against Putin‘s forces. 

Buildings in Russia appeared to have been set alight by Ukrainian shelling with video footage showing huge flames engulfing what is thought to be a block of flats. 

Belgorod has come under frequent shelling and drone attacks from Ukraine in the course of the war. 

It is next to the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces staged a major cross-border attack this week, which has seen more than 76,000 people from the surrounding border areas, Russian media reported today.

‘More than 76,000 people have been temporarily relocated to safe places,’ the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing a local official at a press briefing.

Kyiv’s intentions – and the scale of the battles going on – were unclear but the incursion may be an attempt to draw Russian manpower away from the main battlegrounds of eastern Ukraine, where Russia has been notching victories.

There is also speculation that Ukraine could be attempting to occupy a swathe of Russian territory to give it a stronger hand in any peace talks.

Either way, the bold offensive is one of the most dramatic developments in the two-and-a-half year war, just as it seemed Russia was gaining the upper hand.

Ukrainian regular forces burst over the border north-east of Sumy five days ago in a surprise offensive and advanced about 13 miles, capturing towns and villages.

They destroyed a Russian convoy 25 miles from the border, inflicting dozens of casualties.

General Sir Richard Shirreff told Radio 4’s Today programme it was a ‘brilliant military operation’. Kyiv had demonstrated ‘seriously sophisticated planning’ and ‘made monkeys out of President Putin’ and his supporters.

Previous cross-border raids have been undertaken by Russian volunteers supporting Ukraine and have normally only lasted hours. But yesterday Russia’s army confirmed it was still fighting the Ukrainian incursion.

Andrei Gurulyov, a member of parliament for Putin’s ruling party, said: ‘The enemy has been halted so far but that does not mean that it is all quiet. There is serious fighting going on there.’

Russia’s nuclear agency also warned yesterday that the Ukrainian attack posed a ‘direct threat’ to Kursk nuclear power station.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said reinforcements being sent to the region included multiple rocket launchers, towed artillery guns, tanks and heavy tracked vehicles.

There has been little reliable information on the risky Ukrainian operation and its strategic aims are unclear. Ukrainian officials have refused to comment on the incursion, taking place about 320 miles south-west of Moscow.

But Mathieu Boulegue, a defence analyst at Chatham House think- tank in London, said the Ukrainians appear to have a clear goal, even if they’re not revealing it. 

‘Such a co-ordinated ground force movement responds to a clear military objective’, he said.

‘Also, the raid has spooked the Russian public and delivered a slap in the face to President Putin, offering Ukraine a great PR coup.’ He added the attack ‘is a massive symbol, a massive display of force (showing) the war is not frozen’.

In neighbouring Belarus, where Russian troops are deployed but which has not sent its own army into Ukraine, President Alexander Lukashenko said its air defences shot down unspecified objects launched from Ukraine.

‘I do not understand why Ukraine needs this. We need to figure it out. We made it clear to them that any provocations will not go unanswered,’ Mr Lukashenko said.

A Russian plane-launched missile slammed into a shopping mall in Kostiantynivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, on Friday, killing 14 people and wounding 44.

‘This is another targeted attack on a crowded place, another act of terror by the Russians’, said Donetsk leader Vadym Filashkin.

Ukrainian special forces killed 30 Russian soldiers on Friday in a raid on Russian-occupied Kinburn Spit in the Black Sea, near the mouth of the Dnipro river.

Putin has called the incursion a ‘large-scale provocation’ and Russia’s top general has vowed to crush it. But Moscow has not yet presented detailed information on the extent of the advance.

Moscow said Friday it had struck Ukrainian positions on the western edge of Sudzha, a town around five miles from the border that appeared to be the focus of Kyiv’s offensive.

Several Russian media shared a video purporting to show Sudzha residents appealing to President Vladimir Putin for help, warning that many were unable to evacuate.

‘In a few hours our town was turned into ruins … Our relatives are left behind, we can’t call them, there is no communication. Please help us get our land back,’ one resident said in the video.

In neighboring Belarus, where Russian troops are deployed but which hasn’t sent its own army into Ukraine, President Alexander Lukashenko said Saturday that its air defenses shot down unspecified objects launched from Ukraine that were flying over Belarusian territory.

‘I do not understand why Ukraine needs this. We need to figure it out. As I said before, we made it clear to them that any provocations will not go unanswered,’ Lukashenko said, according to state news agency Belta.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that reinforcements are now being sent to Kursk to counter Ukraine’s raid, with Russia deploying multiple rocket launchers, towed artillery guns, tanks transported on trailers and heavy tracked vehicles.

There has been little reliable information on the daring operation, and its strategic aims are unclear. Ukrainian officials have refused to comment on the incursion, which is taking place about 320 miles southwest of Moscow.

Asked about Ukraine’s incursion, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday the United States was ‘in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts,’ but that he wouldn’t comment until ‘those conversations are complete.’ 

Ukraine’s backers have not been dissuaded by the apparent offensive, as the US on Friday announced a further $125mn in new military aid for Kyiv.

The aid package underscores ‘our unwavering commitment to (Ukraine) as they continue to battle back against Russian aggression,’ National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the aid would be drawn from American stockpiles and ‘includes air defense interceptors, munitions for rocket systems and artillery, multi-mission radars, and anti-tank weapons.’

The equipment ‘will help Ukraine protect its troops, its people and its cities from Russian attacks and reinforce its capabilities across the front lines,’ he said in a statement.

The United States has been a key military backer of Ukraine, committing more than $55 billion in weapons, ammunition and other security aid since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Combatants from Ukraine have made several brief incursions into Russia since the beginning of the conflict, including with units of Russians fighting in support of Kyiv – the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Russia has pushed back against the attacks and has sometimes needed to deploy artillery and aviation.

Ukraine’s main military effort is focused on fighting back Russian forces who control nearly a fifth of its territory after almost two-and-a-half years of war and have made a series of gradual gains in the past six months.

Ukrainian strikes inside Russia’s own territory have mostly involved shelling of border regions and drone attacks on targets such as oil refineries and fuel depots.

Responsibility for previous incursions, into Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions, have been claimed by two murky groups: the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.