KYIV: Russia said on Friday it was deploying more troops and munitions to a border region where Ukraine had mounted a major ground offensive, as Ukraine said a Russian strike on a supermarket in its east killed 11 people.

Kyiv’s troops have been driving into Russia’s western Kursk region since Tuesday in a surprise offensive that appears to be the most significant attack on Russian soil since Moscow invaded in February 2022.

Russia’s defence ministry said it was sending columns of military hardware, including rocket launchers, artillery, tanks and heavy trucks to reinforce its defences in the region, state media reported.

Around 1,000 Ukrainian troops and more than two dozen armoured vehicles and tanks were involved in the initial attack, according to Russia’s estimates, although it has since claimed to have destroyed many more pieces of equipment.

Kyiv has not officially taken responsibility, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address on Thursday that Russia needed to “feel” the consequences of its invasion.

Both sides also stepped up aerial attacks behind the frontlines on Friday.

Missile strike

A Russian missile strike on a supermarket in the east Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka in the middle of the day killed 11 people and wounded 44.

The town is about 13 kilometres from the nearest Russian position.

“Russia will be held accountable for this terror,” Zelensky said in a post on Telegram.

Eyewitnesses recalled seeing people fleeing as police officers warned of a potential second strike.

Ukraine’s surprise offensive into the Kursk region appeared to catch Russia off guard, with some analysts suggesting Kyiv was hoping to divert resources and relieve pressure on parts of the frontline where Moscow is advancing.

Influential Russian military bloggers have blasted army leaders for failing to spot or quash the incursion.

Senior Kyiv officials have stayed largely tight-lipped, although Zelensky alluded to the attack on Thursday.

“Everyone can see that the Ukraine army knows how to surprise and knows how to achieve results,” he said.

Moscow has not presented information on the extent of the Ukrainian advance.

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

Several Russian media outlets shared a video purporting to show residents from the town 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.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2024