A Russian soldier at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, August 4, 2022 (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Sunday’s Coverage: Zelenskiy Acknowledges Incursion Into Russia — “Pressure on the Aggressor”

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1754 GMT:

Volodymyr, a soldier in Ukraine’s 82nd Air Assault Brigade, recounts the start of the incursion into Russia’s Kursk region last Tuesday.

At 1 p.m., the brigade listened to their commander’s instructions. After a short prayer and a shout of “Glory to Ukraine!”, they crossed the border.

He says the unit’s eight-wheeled, 20-ton US Stryker fighting vehicle faced no resistance. Russian soldiers were “sitting in the forest, drinking coffee at a table”

Then our Stryker drives right into their table.

We killed many of them on the first day. Because they were unarmed and didn’t expect us.

“Dozens” of surprised Russians laid down their weapons and surrendered.

The Russians did attack from the air with glide bombs and suicide drones. Despite taking casualties and damage to equipment, the advance continued.

“It was a bit difficult at first but then it got easier,” said Roman, another soldier in the 82nd.

The Stryker was hit on Friday by a Russian rocket-propelled grenade. All aboard survived, thanks to the vehicle’s thick layer of armour. They towed it back across the border for repairs.

“Our mood is good. Morale is high,” said Serhiy, a paratrooper in the 80th Air Assault Brigade.

Soldiers from Ukraine’s 225th Separate Assault Battalion tear down the Russian national flag on the administrative building in Daryino in the Kursk region.

UPDATE 1631 GMT:

Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi says forces have advanced even farther into the Kursk and Belgorod regions in Russia:

UPDATE 1605 GMT:

Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov has told Vladimir Putin that Ukraine is in control of 28 settlements in his region, almost a week after launching a cross-border incursion.

In a video call, Smirnov informed Putin the situation is “difficult”. He said the incursion is up to 12 km (7.5 miles) deep along a 40-km (25-mile) front.

Russian officials say they have evacuated at least 133,000 people from border areas in the Kursk and Belgorod regions.

In the meeting with his security cabinet and governors of the Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk border regions, Putin pledged an “adequate response”:

An assessment of the ongoing events must certainly be made, and it will be. But the main thing now is solving the tasks at hand…to push out and beat back the enemy from our territory and ensure the state border is well protected.

He betrayed his concern: “If things are relatively calm in Bryansk region today, that does not mean the situation will stay that way tomorrow.”

Governor Smirnov said around 121,000 residents fled in Kursk. Twelve have died, and the fate of 2,000 is unknown. Another 59,000 may soon be displaced.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said around 11,000 people have been moved from the Krasnoyaruzhsky district because of “enemy activity on the border”. About 50% to 70% of residents in Shebekino, population 40,000 before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, have left the area.

UPDATE 1247 GMT:

Despite US and European Union sanctions, almost $2.3 billion in dollars and euros have been shipped to Russia during Vladimir Putin’s 29 1/2-month invasion of Ukraine.

Much of the money arrived in Russia via third-party countries such as the UAE and Turkey; however, for more than half of the euros and dollars, the origin was not specified. Many of the cash payments went toward gold, arms, or use by banks.

Sources said cash payments are often used as a means of circumventing sanctions on wire payments.

UPDATE 1031 GMT:

Ukraine’s Deputy Energy Minister Oleksandr Kheil has been arrested on corruption charges.

Ukrainian State security service SBU said only that a deputy energy minister had been arrested, but the outlet Ukrainska Pravda soon confirmed that Kheil was the suspect.

The official site of Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers later reported that Kheil had been dismissed from his position.

Kheil allegedly demanded bribes from representatives of a state-owned coal company for the transfer of mining equipment from near Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, near the frontline. The equipment was to be transported to the Lviv-Volyn region in western Ukraine.

Kheil allegedly had three accomplices: an independent energy trader, the head of an energy company in the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine, and the head of a mining company in the Donetsk region.

The four conspirators have been charged with receiving a bribe and face up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

UPDATE 0823 GMT:

Russian economic links with China are being damaged further, as small regional banks join larger Chinese counterparts in refusing payments from Russia.

Alexey Poroshin, CEO of the JSC First Group, told Izvestia of the suspension. Ekaterina Kizevich, CEO of importer Atvira, confirmed the effective termination since July 2020.

Alexey Razumovsky, commercial director of Impaya Rus, added that more than 98% of Chinese banks are now refusing to accept direct transactions from Russia.

The regional banks had been an alternative for Russian firms as China’s largest financial institutions began blocking transactions in December 2023, responding to the threat of US secondary sanctions after an executive order by President Joe Biden.

Russian businesses are trying to make payments through third countries and through Hong Kong. However, some Chinese credit institutions are refusing the transactions.

UPDATE 0749 GMT:

Amid Ukraine’s cross-border incursion, Russian officials have extended the evacuation of residents from the Kursk region to the neighboring Belgorod region.

Belgorod Governor Viacheslav Gladkov announced on Monday that the residents of the Krasnoyaruzhsky district on the border will be moved.

“It has been an alarming morning,” Gladkov said. “Enemy activity on the border of Krasnoyaruzhsky District.”

The district’s population in 2021 was around 14,000.

Officials in the Kursk region say they have evacuated more than 76,000 people during Ukraine’s six-day incursion.

The Ukrainian military has posted footage this morning of the capture of Russian tanks and of Chechen troops.

Elderly residents in Kursk speak with advancing Ukrainian soldiers:

UPDATE 0638 GMT:

One civilian has been killed and 11 wounded by Russian attacks on the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

The Russians struck educational institutions, a store, a multi-story building, and 15 houses.

In the Donetsk region in the east, ten civilians were wounded.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Fire broke out at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, in southern Ukraine early Monday.

Russia’s State-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom said the blaze has been extinguished. However, it said a non-functioning cooling tower was damaged. Ukrainian counterpart Energoatom echoed the report and said other equipment was affected.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its team at the plant saw intense, dark smoke in the northern area after multiple explosions. There was no reported effect on nuclear safety at the site.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had set the fire. While radiation indicators were “normal”, he noted, “as long as Russian terrorists retain control over the nuclear plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal”.

Evgeny Balitsky, a Russian proxy official in the Zaporizhzhia region, maintained that Ukrainian forces were the cause, shelling the nearby city of Enerhodar. Other officials told the IAEA team that there was a drone attack the damaged cooling tower.

Russian forces seized the nuclear plant in the first days of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in March 2022. They turned the complex into a military base, using it to attack Ukrainian-held territory across the Dnipro River.

Power lines to the facility have been recurrently damaged, threatening the cooling of the reactors. Each side has accused the other of responsibility.

One of the reactors is in “hot shutdown”, providing steam for heating in the nearby area including Enerhodar. The other reactors are in “cold shutdown”.

On Friday, IAEA head Rafael Grossi called on Ukraine and Russia on Friday to show “maximum restraint” over the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in southwest Russia, amid the Ukrainian cross-border incursion into the region.

Grossi said an accident at the plant would have “the potential for serious radiological consequences”.

Zelenskiy reassured that Ukraine’s incursion, which has advanced up to 20 miles inside Russia along a 40-mile front, “will not cause problems for nuclear security. This we can guarantee.”