Russia says it has used a thermobaric bomb against Ukrainian forces as it announced a “counter-terrorism” operation to retaliate against Ukraine’s shock incursion into Kursk.
The Russian defence ministry said fighting was continuing in the western Kursk region following Ukraine’s unprecedented attack on its territory earlier this week.
The Russian army has conducted airstrikes against Ukrainian forces, including using a thermobaric bomb, also known as a vacuum bomb.
The pressure from the bomb’s extra hot blast is capable of vaporising human bodies.
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It is not the first time Moscow is reported to have deployed such weapons, as Ukrainian officials alleged they were being used in the invasion just weeks after it began in February 2022.
Using vacuum bombs is not a breach of international law, but targeting civilians with them is.
Moscow on Saturday announced it was launching a “counter-terrorism operation” in response to the largest cross-border attack by Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of his smaller neighbour.
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, the defence ministry said.
Tass news agency reports upto 76,000 people have been evacuated from the Kursk region.
Ukraine’s daring operation in Kursk has not yet been commented on by Kyiv officials and its aims are uncertain.
Video on Ukrainian media shows soldiers in control of a gas facility in Russia’s Kursk
In neighbouring Belarus, where Russian troops are deployed but which has not sent its own army into Ukraine, 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.
A Russian plane-launched missile slammed into a Ukrainian shopping mall in Kostiantynivka, in the separatist eastern region of Donetsk, on Friday, killing at least 14 people and injuring 44 others, authorities said.
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Sky News’ security and defence analyst Professor Michael Clarke said on Friday that Ukrainian forces advanced on Kursk and “pushed in towards Sudzha, which is a logistical hub, and they’ve been fanning out, northeast and southeast from there”.
Sudzha is the last operational trans-shipping point for Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine.
“They’re miles deep into Russia… and that’s big – that’s not just a raid,” Professor Clarke said.