Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region in southern Russia, stated people living in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district were being relocated to safer places. This comes after the evacuations over the weekend of thousands of people living in the neighboring Kursk region.

“We’re having a disturbing morning – enemy activities on the border of Krasnoyaruzhsky district. I am sure that our military will do everything to cope with this threat. But to protect the life and health of our people, we are beginning to relocate people who live in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district to safer places,” he said in a statement posted on his official Telegram channel.

About 11,000 residents from Krasnoyaruzhsky district were evacuated, the head of the district administration Adrei Miskov noted later.

The incursion, which is now affecting two Russian regions, is seen as something of a game-changer in the conflict. The Ukrainian military has in the past regularly attacked targets inside the Belgorod region with drones and missiles, but until last week Kyiv had not launched any official ground incursions across the border in the two and half years since the start of the full-scale war.

The extent of the operation remains unclear.

An influential Russian military blog Rybar said on Monday that “apparently the [Armed Forces of Ukraine] is not shying away from plans to stretch our defensive formations, create the maximum number of points of tension, and attempt to break through in the east to cut Belgorod off from the north”.

Also, several Russian military bloggers reported an attempt by Ukrainian armed forces to attack a border crossing in the Belgorod region Monday morning, in the district that Russian authorities say is being evacuated.

The operation, which started last Tuesday, has been shrouded in mystery. Ukrainian officials have for days remained silent, refusing to comment on reports of Ukrainian troops operating inside Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky finally confirmed Kyiv’s troops crossed into Russia on Saturday, stating in his nightly address to the nation that “Ukraine is proving that it really knows how to restore justice and guarantees exactly the kind of pressure that is needed – pressure on the aggressor”.

The reason for the attack is also unclear. Ukraine has been under increased pressure along the 600-mile frontline as Moscow continues its slow, grinding offensive, inching towards several strategically important towns and roads in eastern Ukraine.

The cross-border incursion could be an attempt to divert Russian resources elsewhere. Given the spate of more negative developments from the frontline, the news of a successful incursion help Kyiv boost the morale of its troops and civilian population.

Moscow has been scrambling to contain the attack. Russian authorities imposed a sweeping counter-terror operation in the three border regions, but stopped short of declaring the incursion an act of war.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based conflict monitoring group, announced this was likely an attempt by the Kremlin to deliberately downplay the assault to prevent domestic panic or backlash over the fact that Russia was unable to defend its own borders.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin has refrained from officially declaring a state of war, has repeatedly demonstrated his unwillingness to transfer Russian society fully to a war-time footing, and has forgone declaring general mobilization as part of wider efforts to prevent domestic discontent that could threaten the stability of (his) regime,” the ISW added.

Both Russia and Ukraine have accused the other side of planning to sabotage the plant, raising fears about nuclear safety.

The fire, which affected the plant’s cooling systems, broke out following a Ukrainian attack on the nearby city of Energodar on Sunday, Balitsky said in a statement. The plant’s six reactors were placed in a state of “cold shutdown” as a precaution, the governor explained, adding that there is “no threat of a steam explosion or other consequences”.

“Emergency workers are working at the scene of the fire, and the sources of ignition have begun being eliminated,” Balitsky continued.

According to the governor, radiation levels around the plant are normal and “there is no threat” to people nearby.

The Zaporozhye NPP was seized by Russia in 2022, four days into Moscow’s military operation. Six months later, the region of Zaporozhye voted to join the Russian Federation in a referendum. Throughout the first year of the conflict, Russian forces foiled repeated Ukrainian attempts to attack the station – which sits on the Dnieper River – with landing craft and drones.

Kamikaze drones were used in Sunday’s attack, the facility’s communications director, Evgeniya Yashina, annonced in a statement. According to Yashina, the attack marked the first time that Ukrainian forces were able to seriously damage the plant’s infrastructure.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the shelling of the plant as a “terrorist” act and called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to perform “at least some imitation of work” to ensure the plant’s security.

“The terrorists in Kiev, under the leadership of the collective West, destroyed their country, ruined the people of Ukraine, undermined global energy and food security, and now they have begun the nuclear terror of the continent.”

The IAEA maintains an observer mission at the ZNPP and has condemned the repeated strikes against the plant. However, the UN agency refuses to attribute blame for these attacks, claiming that it does not have “indisputable evidence” of Kiev’s culpability. In a presentation to the UN General Assembly last month, Russia’s deputy representative to the organization, Dmitry Polyansky, displayed wreckage of a Ukrainian drone that hit the facility, accusing Kiev of posing “the only real threat to nuclear facilities in Ukraine today.”

Zelensky also said Ukraine has recorded from Nikopol that the Russian occupiers have started a fire on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

He wrote on the social platform X, “Currently, radiation levels are within norm. However, as long as the Russian terrorists maintain control over the nuclear plant, the situation is not and cannot be normal.”

“Since the first day of its seizure, Russia has been using the Zaporizhzhia NPP only to blackmail Ukraine, all of Europe, and the world,” Zelensky continued.

“We are waiting for the world to react, waiting for the [International Atomic Energy Agency] to react. Russia must be held accountable for this. Only Ukrainian control over the Zaporizhzhia NPP can guarantee a return to normalcy and complete safety.”