While we haven’t been able to bring you live rolling coverage on the war in Ukraine today, we have been keeping an eye on the latest developments.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian forces smashed through the Russian border into the Kursk region and fighting has been taking place there for the past five days.
Ukraine has remained tight-lipped about what is happening – and what its broader goal for the operation is, but we have seen Russia take some extra measures to bolster security in the region today.
Russia claims to use bomb that suffocates its targets
Moscow announced a “counter-terrorism operation” to increase security in the border region would take place.
The Russian defence ministry said fighting was continuing and the army had conducted air strikes against Ukrainian forces.
It said it had used a thermobaric bomb that both causes a blast wave and creates a vacuum that suffocates its targets.
The measures announced for Kursk and for the neighbouring Belgorod and Bryansk regions that border Ukraine allow the government to relocate residents, control phone communications and requisition vehicles.
More than 76,000 people have
been evacuated so far, the local emergency ministry was quoted by the Tass news
agency as saying.
Unspecified objects shot down in Belarus
In neighbouring Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko said air defences had 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,” Mr Lukashenko said, according to state news agency Belta.
Offshore gas platform used by Russian forces hit, Ukraine claims
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s navy and military
intelligence have attacked and damaged a former offshore gas
platform used by Russian forces in the Black Sea.
“The occupiers used this location for GPS spoofing to make civilian navigation dangerous. We cannot allow this to happen,” navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said on Facebook.
He posted a video taken at night showing an explosion on an
offshore platform and the ensuing fire.
He said that a half a
day before the attack, Russian forces had stationed equipment
and military personnel on the platform.
“There were no civilians there. The platform was not
performing its normal functions,” Mr Pletenchuk claimed.
Sky News has not independently verified this information.