MOSCOW: Moscow on Saturday mounted a "counter-terror operation" in three border regions adjoining Ukraine to halt Kyiv's advance deeper into Russia and warned that the fighting endangered a nuclear power plant.
Ukrainian units stormed into Russia's western Kursk region on Tuesday morning in a shock attack, the largest and most successful cross-border offensive by Kyiv of the two-and-a-half year conflict.
Its troops have advanced several kilometres and Russia's army has rushed in reserves and extra equipment -- though neither side has given precise details on the forces they have committed.
Russia's nuclear agency on Saturday warned the Ukrainian attack posed a "direct threat" to the nearby Kursk nuclear power station.
At least 16,000 civilians requested state assistance to leave their homes in Russian border areas, where emergency aid has been ferried in, and extra trains to the capital Moscow have been put on for people fleeing. Russia's army confirmed on Saturday it will still fighting the Ukrainian incursion.
It said Kyiv initially crossed the border with around 1,000 troops, around 20 armoured vehicles and 11 tanks. Though it claimed Saturday to have destroyed five times that much military hardware so far.
Russia's national anti-terrorism committee said late Friday it was starting "counter-terror operations in the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions ... in order to ensure the safety of citizens and suppress the threat of terrorist acts being carried out by the enemy's sabotage groups." Security forces and the military are given sweeping emergency powers during "counter-terror" operations.
Movement is restricted, vehicles can be seized, phone calls can be monitored, areas are declared no-go zones, checkpoints introduced, and security is beefed up at key infrastructure sites.
The anti-terrorism committee said Ukraine had mounted an "unprecedented attempt to destabilise the situation in a number of regions of our country."
Russia's defence ministry on Saturday said it had hit some Ukrainian positions as far as 10 kilometres from the border.
It also reported hitting Ukrainian troops in areas 30 kilometres apart -- an indication as to the breadth, as well as depth of Ukraine's advance.
Moscow issued a nuclear warning over the fate of the Kursk nuclear power plant, under 50 kilometres from the combat zone, a day after the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency called for "maximum restraint". — AFP
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