Sawt Falasteen - Russia scrambles troops, arms to counter Ukraine incursion

Kyiv's troops have been driving into Russia's western Kursk region since Tuesday in a surprise offensive that appears to be the most significant attack on Russian soil since Moscow invaded in February 2022.

Russia's defence ministry said it was sending columns of military hardware, including rocket launchers, artillery, tanks and heavy trucks to reinforce its defences in the region, state media reported.

Around 1,000 Ukrainian troops and more than two dozen armoured vehicles and tanks were involved in the initial attack, according to Russia's estimates, although it has since claimed to have destroyed many more pieces of equipment.

Kyiv has not officially taken responsibility, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address Thursday that Russia needed to "feel" the consequences of its invasion.

Both sides also stepped up aerial attacks behind the frontlines on Friday.

A Russian missile strike on a supermarket in the east Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka in the middle of the day killed at least 11 people and wounded 44, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said.

The town is about 13 kilometres (eight miles) from the nearest Russian positions.

"Russia will be held accountable for this terror," Zelensky said in a post on Telegram.

AFP journalists on the scene saw dozens of people fleeing as police officers warned of a potential second strike.

- 'The war has come to us' -

Ukraine's surprise offensive into the Kursk region appeared to catch Russia off guard, with some analysts suggesting Kyiv was hoping to divert resources and relieve pressure on parts of the frontline where Moscow is advancing.

Influential Russian military bloggers have blasted army leaders for failing to spot or quash the incursion.

Senior Kyiv officials have stayed largely tight-lipped, although Zelensky alluded to the attack on Thursday.

"Everyone can see that the Ukraine army knows how to surprise and knows how to achieve results," he said.

Moscow has not presented detailed information on the extent of the Ukrainian advance.

It said Friday it had struck Ukrainian positions on the western edge of Sudzha, a town around eight kilometres (five miles) from the border that appeared to be the focus of Kyiv's offensive.

Several Russian media outlets shared a video purporting to show residents from the town appealing to President Vladimir Putin for help, warning that many were unable to evacuate.

"In a few hours our town was turned into ruins ... Our relatives are left behind, we can't call them, there is no communication. Please help us get our land back," one resident said in the video.

Thousands have been evacuated from the border region, with Russia putting on an extra train to Moscow from the regional capital, Kursk, for those looking to leave.

At a train station in Moscow, AFP journalists saw families disembarking with children.

"The war has come to us, so all the relatives have gone to Moscow," AFP heard a woman with her young daughter saying at the station.

- 'Rapid advance' -

Based on geolocated videos and photos, the independent US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Ukrainian units had pierced much further into Russian territory in a "rapid advance".

"Ukrainian forces are reportedly present in areas as far as 35 kilometres from the international border," the ISW said in its daily campaign assessment.

It cautioned, however, that its troops "most certainly do not control" that entire area.

Putin has called the incursion a "large-scale provocation" by Kyiv, and Russia's top general has vowed to crush it.

The health ministry said 66 civilians were wounded, including nine children, in the first three days.

On the first day of the assault, Kursk regional governor Alexei Smirnov said five civilians were killed.

Ukraine on Friday expanded its own evacuation zone in the Sumy region, just across the border from Kursk.

"About 20,000 people need to be evacuated" from 28 settlements, Ukraine's national police force said.

Ukraine also said on Friday it had carried out a major air strike on a Russian military base in the Lipetsk region, around 280 kilometres (175 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.

It said it had struck "warehouses containing guided aerial bombs and a number of other facilities."

G.AbuHamad--SF-PST