Ukraine has repeatedly launched airstrikes against the Kremlin in Russia’s Kursk region

A Ukrainian drone attack on a power substation left 5,000 people without power in the Russian region. KurskThe area is where authorities have reported attacks and bombings every day for the past week.

Kursk Region Governor Roman Starovid said on Friday A Ukrainian drone dropped bombs on a substation in the city of Belaya, nearby areas are left without power, including the hospital, which has to run briefly on a diesel generator. According to Starovoyt, the supply was restored on Friday afternoon.

“Today our territory was heavily attacked by Ukrainian UAVs, and our air defense shot down 10 UAVs,” Starovoit said in a Telegram message. “Thank you to all of our military and concerned citizens who reported incoming drones.”

There was no immediate official reaction from Kyiv. An official from the Ukrainian security service SBU spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. The Washington Post As a result, the substation was shut down on Friday “Successful attack” near the border.

Russia has recently reported that Ukraine’s drone strike efforts are increasing. Ukrainian officials have insisted that targets inside Russia are part of the conflict.

Thursday, A Ukrainian drone destroyed a Russian radar system in the same areaSBU source told Ukrainian media Hromatske.

system, is called Gusta, a mobile surveillance radar Intended to detect and repel low-flying threats. It was situated Near Giri townKursk is about 100 kilometers from the regional center and less than 20 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

“The Russians said they could even detect the stealth plane, but for some reason it didn’t detect the SBU drone,” an SBU source told Hromadske.

The increase in attacks – more airstrikes were recorded in the Kursk region this week alone than in August – has led local authorities to urge residents to report any drone sightings. Russia recently launched a phone app that allows witnesses to notify security services of the arrival of drones or other airstrikes. The project is similar to the ePPO application that has been running in Ukraine for a year.

Russian regions in the west of the country are scrambling to beef up their air defenses as Ukrainian forces become more timid. Their attacks — including several drone strikes that hit the Kremlin and skyscrapers in Moscow’s financial district — unnerved even residents of the Russian capital, hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine.

“If you see a drone, don’t touch it or approach it, report it and wait for the experts,” Starovoit said. “Even remains are dangerous!”

Earlier this week, a team of Russian officials sent to investigate an intercepted Ukrainian kamikaze drone in the Kursk region were “injured or killed” by a delayed-action bomb, Ukrainian media reported. Although Russian military officials have not confirmed or commented on the incident, some prominent pro-invasion military bloggers in Russia have reported on the event.

“One of the downed drones turned out to be a ‘surprise,'” wrote blogger Boris Rogin. “Previously, the enemy has already used this type of tactics in the Kherson direction, where several drones flew into the air after being shot down and landed with the help of electronic warfare.”

Friday’s UAV attack reportedly targeted a local power grid attack in the Kursk region. On Tuesday, a drone detonated an explosive device at an electrical substation in the village of Snagost, knocking out power to seven nearby residences, and a mortar mine brought down a power line in another small village, Popovo-Lezhachi, local officials said.

He The head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyrillo Budanov, It was announced in mid-September that the country’s military intentions by launching drones into Russia were to undermine rival air defense systems, damage military aircraft and slow Russian weapons production.

A third of Russian military factories are located in western Russia, within reach of Ukrainian drones.Budanov told Ukrainian media NV, citing recent attacks on the Kremni-El plant in Bryansk, one of the manufacturers of microelectronics apparently used in Iskander missile complexes, and the Redkino experimental plant from Tver, which produces rocket fuel.

As Ukraine continues its counteroffensive efforts, Moscow appears to be preparing for a long war, with next year’s military budget rForms “volunteer battalions” out of the infamous Wagner mercenary group, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin dies in a dark plane crash. A month ago, and a short-lived riot two months later.

Russia will increase its military spending by nearly 68% next yearKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the announcement citing a draft budget prepared by the Finance Ministry.

“Obviously, such an increase is necessary because we live in a state of hybrid warfare,” he said. “It costs a lot.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with one of Wagner’s senior former commanders late Thursday. Andriy Troshev, known by his given name, Sedoi. The Kremlin said Troshev is now among the country’s top officials working at the Defense Ministry to rein in Wagner following a bitter public spat between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the late Prigozhin.

Deputy Minister of Defence, Yunus-Bek Evgrove, was present with Putin. Yevkurov has recently been touring Africa and the Middle East, visiting capitals where Wagner has several security deals, in an apparent move to absorb his dealings beyond Russian borders.

Putin instructed Troshev to work on creating “volunteer units capable of performing various combat tasks, especially, of course, in the zone of special military operations,” the Kremlin’s discourse on the war in Ukraine.

Telegram channels close to the Wagner Group, which had previously amplified Prigozhin’s aggressive outcry against Shoigu, denied the Kremlin’s message on Friday that the group was now fully under military control, saying only a fraction of the Wagner Group’s fighters had switched sides.

(c) 2023, The Washington Post