Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee announced Friday evening the launch of “anti-terrorist operations in the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions […] to ensure the security of citizens and remove the threat of terrorist acts committed by enemy sabotage groups.”
Considerable emergency powers
Russian law allows the security forces and the military to have considerable emergency powers during “anti-terrorist” operations: movement is restricted, vehicles can be seized, phone calls can be monitored, areas are declared off-limits, checkpoints are set up and security is reinforced on strategic infrastructure sites.
The counter-terrorism committee said Kiev had staged an “unprecedented attempt to destabilize the situation in a number of regions” in Russia and called the incursion a “terrorist attack”, saying Ukrainian forces injured civilians and destroyed residential buildings.
Russia's Rosatom nuclear agency, for its part, warned that the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region posed a “direct threat” to the plant located less than 50 kilometers from the fighting.
Drone attack at night
Ukrainian leaders have remained tight-lipped about the operation, and the United States, Kiev's closest ally, has said it was not informed in advance of the plans.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, appeared to boast of his troops' initial successes, saying earlier in the week that Russia must “feel” the consequences of its large-scale offensive against Ukraine starting in February 2022.
The Russian Defense Ministry released images on Saturday showing tank crews firing on Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region, as well as an airstrike at night. He assured on Friday that he has deployed additional units to the border region.