KYIV: Russia declared the situation in the Kursk region a “federal level” emergency and sent reinforcements there on Friday, four days after hundreds of Ukrainian troops poured over the border in what appeared to be Kyiv’s biggest attack on Russian soil since the war began.
Meanwhile, a Russian plane-launched missile slammed into a Ukrainian shopping mall in the middle of the day, killing at least 10 people and wounding 35 others, authorities said.
The mall in Kostiantynivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, is located in the town’s residential area. Thick black smoke rose above it after the strike. “This is another targeted attack on a crowded place, another act of terror by the Russians,” Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said that reinforcements were on their way to the Kursk region to counter Ukraine’s daring cross-border incursion. Russia is deploying multiple rocket launchers, towed artillery guns, tanks transported on trailers and heavy tracked vehicles.