KURSK (Reuters) : Fighting is ongoing “several dozen kilometers” from the southern Russian town of Kurchatov where the Kursk nuclear plant is located, local official Igor Korpunkov said in a Telegram post on Friday.
Ukrainian forces broke across the border on Tuesday in a shock counter-offensive after months of gradual Russian advances in eastern Ukraine, almost two-and-a-half years after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into its neighbor.
A video posted on social media on Friday and verified by Reuters showed a convoy of burnt-out Russian military trucks along a highway in Kursk.
About 15 trucks could be seen in the video, including one with the Z marking that Russia uses as a symbol of its “special military operation” in Ukraine. Some of the trucks appeared to contain dead bodies.
Reuters was able to verify the location as the village of Oktyabrskoye, based on buildings, trees and road layouts, but was not able to establish exactly when the video was shot.
The defence ministry said in a statement that its forces “continue to repel an attempted invasion by the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the territory of the Russian Federation.”
Russian authorities declared a federal state of emergency in Kursk region.
