By Mark Trevelyan
(Reuters) -Russia moved extra tanks, artillery and rocket systems to its southern Kursk region and imposed anti-terrorism measures in border areas as it battled a shock incursion by Ukraine’s military.
Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, posted a video purporting to show them in control of a town near the border, the first pictorial evidence of their cross-border advances.
In new evidence of the damage inflicted in the Ukrainian counter-offensive, another video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed a convoy of about 15 burnt-out Russian military trucks spaced out along a highway in the Kursk region.
Some contained dead bodies.
The acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, said drone debris had fallen on a power substation near Kurchatov, site of one of Russia’s largest nuclear power stations with four reactors. Power to the area was cut for a time.
The head of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency urged both sides to show restraint in view of the proximity of the conflict to the station, 60 km (35 miles) from the border.
Russian diplomats in Vienna told the IAEA that fragments, possibly from downed missiles, had been found, though there was no evidence of an attack on the station.
Ukrainian forces broke across the border on Tuesday in a thrust that caught the Russian military by surprise after months of gradual advances in eastern Ukraine by Moscow’s forces.
Politicians and the military are referring to a Ukrainian “invasion”, nearly two and a half years after Russia launched its own full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Early on Saturday, Russian news agencies said the National Anti-Terrorism Committee had imposed anti-terror measures in Kursk region and in nearby Bryansk and Belgorod regions.
The statement said the decision, taken by Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB intelligence service, was in response to Ukraine’s “unprecedented attempt to destablise the situation in a series of regions”.
RIA news agency said the measures included possible displacement of residents, limits on transport, beefed-up security around sensitive sites and wire taps.
Two days after Military Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin that the advance had been halted, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces “continue to repel an attempted invasion by the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.
Interfax news agency quoted the ministry as saying that Russia was sending in columns of reinforcements with Grad multiple-launch rocket systems, artillery and tanks.
VIDEO SAID TO BE IN RUSSIAN GAS FACILITY
The Ukrainian video purported to show Ukrainian forces in control of a gas measuring facility run by Russian concern Gazprom in the town of Sudzha.
“The town is controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the town is calm, all buildings are intact,” a soldier in the video said, adding that the “strategic Gazprom facility” was under the control of a Ukrainian battalion.
Reuters could not verify this video and the Ukrainian military’s General Staff made no comment.President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has maintained a strict silence on the operation, though he dropped some clear hints on Thursday, without referring to Kursk.
He praised his army’s ability “to surprise”. And in his nightly video address, he thanked army units who had taken Russian servicemen prisoner, to be used in later negotiations.
“This is extremely important and has been particularly effective over the past three days,” he said.
Ben Barry, land warfare analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that while its wider strategic goals remained unclear, Ukraine had exposed Russian shortcomings and overturned the conventional wisdom on the war that neither side could advance without heavy losses.
“They clearly have achieved a degree of surprise which suggests that Russia’s ability to do intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is inadequate,” he said in a phone interview.
A Ukrainian Telegram channel that posted the video of the destroyed Russian trucks said they had been hit by a U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket system. Russian bloggers also blamed a HIMARS strike.
Reuters was not able to establish how the vehicles were destroyed.
The United States announced a new $125 million package of aid for Ukraine, including Stinger missiles, artillery ammunition, and anti-armour systems. Zelenskiy said the package was “vital for our forces to counter Russian assaults”.
Russia’s defence ministry released its own video which it said showed a drone destroying a Ukrainian tank and howitzer near Sudzha. Reuters was able to verify the location.
ADVANCING INTO RUSSIAN TERRITORY
The ministry said that in the previous 24 hours, Russian troops, air strikes and artillery had “suppressed raid attempts by enemy units deep into Russian territory in the Kursk direction”.
It said that Ukraine had lost up to 945 soldiers and 102 armoured vehicles in total, while mentioning no Russian losses.
Reuters could not verify the battlefield accounts. On Wednesday, Gerasimov had said the Ukrainian attack was mounted by up to 1,000 troops.
The Institute for the Study of War said in an overnight report that geolocated footage and Russian accounts indicated that Ukrainian forces had “continued rapid advances”.
There were unconfirmed reports from Russian sources of Ukrainians pushing as deep as 35 km (22 miles) from the border.
(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan in London, Editing by Ron Popeski, Alistair Bell and Diane Craft)