Russia imposed an all-out security regime in three border regions on Saturday as it massed forces to counter the biggest Ukrainian offensive on Russian territory since the war began in February 2022.
Ukrainian forces breached the Russian border early on Tuesday and swept into parts of western Russia's Kursk region, a surprise attack that could be aimed at creating an advantage in potential ceasefire talks after the US election.
President Vladimir Putin called it a major provocation and although top Russian general Valery Gerasimov said on Wednesday that the Ukrainian offensive had stopped, Russia has so far failed to push Ukrainian forces across the border.
"The enemy has stopped, but that doesn't mean everything is calm. Serious fighting is going on there," said Andrei Gurulyov, a general who served in the Soviet and Russian forces and is now a ruling party lawmaker.
Russian military bloggers said the situation had stabilized after Russia rushed forces to stop Ukraine's surprise advance, although they said Ukraine was rapidly sending forces and intense fighting was taking place.
The Ukrainian attack on Russia has prompted some in Moscow to question why Ukraine was able to penetrate the Kursk region so easily, after more than two years of Europe's most intense ground war since World War II.
Ukrainian leaders have been tight-lipped about the operation, but President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week that Russia must "feel" the consequences of the full-scale aggression it has waged against Ukraine since February 2022.
Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), ordered the establishment of an anti-terrorist regime in the Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions, which have an area of nearly 92,000 square km.
"The Kiev regime has made an unprecedented effort to destabilize the situation in a number of regions of our country," the Russian National Counter-Terrorism Committee said, noting that there were civilian casualties.
The Russian measures essentially give security services sweeping powers to block an area, including controls on communications and restrictions on a host of ordinary freedoms. Thousands of civilians have been evacuated from the Kursk region.
Some reports said Ukrainian forces were advancing on the Kursk nuclear power plant, which supplies much of southern Russia with electricity. It has a total of six reactors, two shut down, two under repair and two more in operation.
The head of the UN Atomic Energy Agency noted "significant military activity" in the area and called for restraint.
Russian diplomats in Vienna told the agency that fragments, possibly from downed missiles, had been found nearby, although there was no evidence of an attack on the power plant./Voice of America
