Ukraine updates: Putin orders reinforcements to Kursk

The United States has tightened sanctions on a number of entities and individuals in Belarus that it says have provided military support to Russia or been involved in sanctions evasion themselves.

The sanctions apply to 14 technology and logistics companies in Belarus as well as 19 people who hold senior positions in those companies.

"This action targets persons involved in supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine through military resource production and transshipment of goods to Russia, sanctions evasion on behalf of Belarusian defense entities, and revenue generation for Belarusian oligarchs in [Belarusian leader] Alexander Lukashenko's inner circle," the US Treasury said in a statement.

"Lukashenko's support for Russia’s indefensible war against Ukraine comes at a high cost for Belarus," it added.

The fresh round of sanctions also targeted a Boeing 767 airliner belonging to the presidential fleet of Belarus. It is at least the third such aircraft to have been sanctioned since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions mark the fourth anniversary of a contested presidential election which returned Lukashenko to power.

The number of dead following a Russian strike on a Ukrainian supermarket in the eastern Donetsk region continues to rise. 

"Ten were killed and 35 others were wounded," Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram, referring to the deadly attack in the town of Kostyantynivka.  

The Telegram post showed firefighters responding to the emergency. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier said some victims were stuck under the rubble. 

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy has commented on a Russian attack on a supermarket in the eastern Donetsk region.

"Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region. Russian terrorists hit an ordinary supermarket and a post office," Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X. "A rescue operation is underway, and everything will be done to save them."

Zelenskyy said four people have been killed in the attack and at least 24 have been wounded. 

The Ukrainian leader pledged Russia would be held accountable for the attack.  

The Russian Defense Ministry said it is moving in more forces and arms into Kursk, where Ukrainian troops crossed the border and have been pushing into Russian territory.

Russia is bringing reinforcements with "BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers, towed artillery guns, tanks transported on trawls, heavy tracked vehicles, Ural and Samaz trucks" into the Sudzhansky District of Kursk, Russian state media reported.  

The Ukrainian incursion appeared to catch Russian forces off guard. 

A Russian attack on a supermarket in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka killed two people and wounded 17 others, Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram, while adding that rescue operations are ongoing.     

"Russians shelled the town with cannon artillery and hit a supermarket. This is another targeted attack on a crowded place, another act of terror by the Russians," Filashkin said. 

The Donetsk region is at the frontline of the fighting between Ukraine and Russia. 

DW spoke to UK military analyst Frank Ledwidge regarding Ukrainian incursions into the Kursk region and a Ukrainian drone attack on an air base in Russia's Lipetsk region.

In regards to the Ukraine incursions into Kursk, Ledwidge said the "Ukrainians are taking as much land as they possibly can," adding that while they may not be able to keep control of all the land they capture, they could hold onto some of it.  

"Over the next few weeks we will see counterattacks from the Russians and this will be a major combat zone I suspect," Ledwidge said. 

"Right now they are doing well," Ledwidge said of Ukrainian efforts in Kursk, because "much of that land is effectively undefended."  

Ledwidge said the Kursk region is very important for gas supplies, as it is a conduit into Ukraine. 

As for Lipetsk, he said it is home "to the main training base of the Russian aerospace forces." For to this reason, he said Ukraine views Lipetsk as a valid military target. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces are still fighting back against a Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region for a fourth day.

Russian forces "continue to repel an attempted incursion by the Ukrainian armed forces into the territory of the Russian Federation," the Defense Ministry said in a statement. Russia said it has killed Ukrainian troops in villages near the border as fighting persists. 

Videos circulated on social media show damaged Russian military vehicles in the Kursk region. Reuters news agency said the location depicted in the footage was the village of Oktyabrskoye.  

Ukraine's army confirmed it hit a Russian airfield in the Lipetsk region in an overnight strike that destroyed ammunition warehouses. 

"Last night, the Ukrainian Defence Forces attacked the Lipetsk airfield," Ukraine's General Staff said in a post on Telegram, adding it had struck "warehouses with guided aerial bombs and a number of other facilities."

"Several sources of ignition were recorded, a large fire broke out and multiple detonations were observed," the post said.

It added that Russian Su-34, Su-35 and MiG-31 aircraft were based at the airfield.

Earlier, Russia declared an emergency and ordered evacuations in the region after reporting a "massive" drone strike.

DW's correspondent in Ukraine, Nick Connolly, said that Kyiv was remaining "tight-lipped" about its ongoing operations in Kursk. 

At the same time, "the Russian governmental side is trying to downplay most of what's going on."

"A few days ago we were speaking about Ukrainian troops being 10, 15 kilometers into Russian territory from the border, now there've been reports and geolocated images of Ukrainian military groups as far as 30 kilometers into Russian territory," Connelly said.

There are reports the Ukrainians are trying to get to the Kursk nuclear power station, which would be very difficult for the Russians to dislodge them from, if they can get there, Conolly said.

"It does seem that they have caught the Russians off guard… that it's been pretty easy to get past those Russian defenses, basically driving around them."

Connolly stressed that Ukrainian forces had managed to pull off a pretty successful campaign, even with limited resources, in a move likely to rattle the Kremlin.

"With a relatively limited investment of people and resources they have achieved a lot, definitely politically, they've shown [Russian President] Vladimir Putin up, they’ve shown ordinary Russians that he's unable to secure the border."

He speculated that this success could result in a land swap, with Ukraine gaining some of its occupied territory back.

Connolly said that permission from Western powers to use the weapons they supplied inside Russian territory had been a "game changer" for the Ukrainian military.

Every second German fears that Russia's war in Ukraine will expand if the United States deploys long-range missiles in Germany, news agency DPA reported, citing a recent survey. 

In July, Washington and Berlin agreed that US Tomahawk cruise missiles — which could reach deep into Russia, SM-6 air-defense missiles and the newly developed hypersonic weapons would be stationed in Germany from 2026. 

The survey conducted by opinion research institute Civey, on behalf of the Funke Media Group newspapers, revealed that 50% of respondents believed this would lead to an escalation. Another 38% did not believe so while the remaining 12% were undecided. 

Nearly half, 47%, of the respondents also expect the deployment to act as a deterrent to Russia while 45% were more skeptical.

 

Ukraine's air defense systems destroyed 27 drones by Russia overnight, the country's chief of air force said.

Russian forces launched an attack on Ukraine with 27 Shahed unamned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk region, commander Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk said in a post on Telegram.

"As a result of the anti-air combat, all enemy drones were shot down by mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian Defence Forces, anti-aircraft missile units and Air Force REB assets in the Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions," he wrote. 

A Russian airbase outside the town of Lipetsk was on fire on Friday morning after authorities reported a "massive attack."

Regional Governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram that four villages were being evacuated after declaring a state of emergency. Lipetsk city is around 330 kilometers (210 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The governor first rejected calls on social media for people to leave the area, saying they were "spread by the enemy in order to sow panic."

However, he quickly changed course, issuing evacuation orders for the four villages on the outskirts of Lipetsk city.

"To eliminate the consequences of the detonation of explosive objects, a state of emergency is introduced in Lipetsk municipal district," he said. "Temporary accommodation points and transport are being prepared."

Artamonov later said that the threat level had been lifted, but that at least six people had been killed according to preliminary reports and that explosions had damaged power facilities.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that 75 Ukrainian drones, across various regions including Lipetsk, had been shot down overnight. It was not immediately clear how many drones got through.

Friday's strike comes as Ukrainian forces continue their offensive inside the Russian Kursk province, albeit without direct acknowledgment from Kyiv.

mk/ab (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)