Approximately 133,000 people have left their homes so far due to the Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region of Kursk, the acting governor of the region, Alexei Smirnov, said during a videoconference with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
Nearly 20,000 people still remain in the eight districts for which evacuation had been ordered, the state news agency TASS reported, citing Smirnov.
"I urge you to pay particular attention to preparations for the new school year,” Putin, who was holding a meeting on the Kursk situation in Moscow, ordered. Russian officials reported on Thursday that reinforced concrete structures are being installed at bus stops in the Kursk region to provide citizens with better protection from the shelling.
Governor Smirnov said on his Telegram channel that there are plans to reinforce 60 bus-stop shelters in the city of Kursk.
For the first time in almost two and a half years of the full-scale Russian war, Ukraine is conducting ground battles on enemy territory. Recently, the Ukrainian army’s commander-in-chief, Olexander Syrskyi, stated that more than 1,260 square kilometres and 93 villages had been captured, but military observers consider the area actually controlled by Ukraine to be somewhat smaller.
Putin accused Ukraine on Thursday of attempting an attack on the Kursk nuclear power plant, without providing evidence.
"The enemy attempted to carry out strikes at the nuclear power plant today,” Putin said in Moscow, according to TASS.
Putin added that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been informed and was preparing a mission to Kursk. The nuclear power plant in the town of Kurchatov is around 30 kilometres away from the furthest Ukrainian advance.
The Ukrainian military appeared to acknowledge on Thursday that the small town of Niu-York has fallen to Russia’s advance in the east, as the embattled town of Toretsk now comes under greater threat. Ukrainian war bloggers and Russian Defence Minister Andrey Belousov said on Wednesday that Russian forces were in complete control of Niu-York. (DPA)