UPDATE - Russian officials declare evacuation of border districts in Belgorod, Kursk regions

REVISES HEADLINE & LEDE; UPDATES WITH LATEST STATEMENT BY KURSK GOVERNOR; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russian officials on Monday announced that evacuations are being implemented in border districts in the country’s Belgorod and Kursk regions.

“In order to protect the life and health of our population, we are starting to move people who live in Krasnoyaruzhsky district to safer places,” Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

Expressing that Ukrainian military activity was reported on the border of the district, Gladkov said he is certain that Russian troops will do everything to "cope with the threat."

The Krasnoyaruzhsky district lies east of Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region and south of Russia's Kursk region.

Gladkov further said the coordination of the evacuation is underway on the ground, and transport has been sent to the area.

“I am sure that everything will be done in an organized manner, the main thing is that it will be done calmly, without panic, under the guidance of responsible persons,” Gladkov went on to say.

Elsewhere, Kursk Governor Alexey Smirnov said on Telegram that the operational headquarters formed in the region decided to evacuate residents of the region's Belovsky district.

Smirnov further said he instructed Russia's Transport Ministry in the region to prepare additional transport to evacuate residents from the district.

A day earlier, Smirnov claimed that a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group tried to cross into Belovsky, but that Russian forces “stabilized the situation.”

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee announced on Aug. 10 that it introduced a counter-terrorism operation regime in the border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk amid Ukrainian incursions.

Last Tuesday, Russia said that Ukrainian troops, including tanks and armored combat vehicles, attacked its military positions near two border settlements in the Kursk region.

Since then, Moscow has reported that it has been repelling incursions into the border region by Ukrainian forces, in addition to countering air strikes launched at Kursk and surrounding regions, including Belgorod.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 7 accused Kyiv of “large-scale provocation” and “indiscriminate shooting.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later commented on the allegations, saying: “Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done.”