OR Russia launched an air strike on Kyivwhere anti-aircraft defense systems were activated to repel it, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital announced in the early hours of the morning Vitali Klitschko.

“Air defense units are operating, air strike alert continues,” Mr Klitschko said via Telegram.

Journalists from Agence France-Presse and Reuters news agency heard at least two explosions and anti-aircraft fire.

Earlier, the air force had announced that at least two ballistic missiles were headed for the city.

Kiev, its region and all of eastern Ukraine — at least five regions — were put on alert, the air force said.

Russia is retaliating to repel Ukraine’s biggest offensive on Russian soil since the war begansending reinforcements, imposing strict security measures in border areas and conducting airstrikes.

However, although Russian troops appear to be redeploying and have now halted the Ukrainians’ rapid advance, the latter appear to be holding ground. On Saturday, reports said they had managed to capture a small village in the neighboring Belgorod region, while analysts cited by The New York Times said their forces control most of the Kursk town of Suja, about 10 kilometers from the border.

Pasi Paroinen, an analyst with the Black Bird Group, a Finland-based organization that analyzes satellite imagery and social media content from the battlefield, said the evidence suggested Moscow was able to halt major advances into Russian territory late this week.

“Kiev seeks to shift the war”

Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that Ukrainian forces are fighting in Russia’s Kursk region and said the operation was part of Kiev’s bid to restore justice after the Russian invasion in 2022.

Kiev is seeking to “shift the war” inside Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this evening, amid an incursion by Ukrainian troops into Russia’s Kursk region that began on Tuesday and has so far not been directly commented on by Kiev.

“Today, on several occasions, General Sirski (retired chief of general staff of the armed forces) gave a report from the front, about our actions and the shift of the war to the territory of the aggressor (…). “Ukraine is proving that it can deliver justice and apply the necessary pressure: pressure on the aggressor,” Zelensky said in his daily evening televised message.

Zelensky had previously referred to the operation, praising the military’s ability to “surprise” and thanking them for capturing Russian soldiers for use in future negotiations

What is Ukraine aiming for?

Ukraine’s latest tactic now remains to prove what gains it aims for. The war, now in its third year, largely appeared to be entrenched along a front line in eastern and southern Ukraine.

The decision of Ukrainian troops to cross the border into Russia apparently surprised not only Russia, but also the United States, as well as other Western allies as well as analysts monitoring the progress of the war.

Some have speculated that Ukraine aims to remove Russian troops from the front lines in Ukraine, giving battle-weary Ukrainian troops a much-needed rest, though analysts say that has not happened.

But for Russia, the fallout from last week’s invasion was a blow to Vladimir Putin’s image.

Andrei Guruliov, a retired military officer who is a member of parliament, condemned Russia’s response and level of preparedness on Friday. “There is no military system for guarding the state border, no reserves and no second lines of defense,” he told Telegram, adding: “If the Ukrainian Armed Forces spent two months preparing for this, how did we miss it? “

On the other hand, Ukraine, despite steadily losing ground in eastern Donetsk, has chosen to send parts of experienced brigades into Russian territory, with the apparent goals of embarrassing the Kremlin and forcing the Russian Ministry of Defense to reallocate resources and provide domestic front the necessary morale boost.

George Barros at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War says the Ukrainians “achieved operational surprise and are currently exploiting Russia’s lack of preparedness in its border areas.” The same tactic worked in September 2022, when they recaptured much of the occupied Kharkiv region within a week.

Despite any gains, however, Ukrainian troops, even if reinforced, cannot occupy several hundred square kilometers of Russian territory. It is largely a field force, albeit battle-hardened, that took advantage of the absence of organized resistance to quickly seize ground.

But holding a large chunk of Russian territory is beyond their means and possibly beyond their goal, CNN reports. Russian reinforcements even if it takes more than three days will project an effective defense.

On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said the units had “prevented attempts by enemy mobile groups to reach the depths” of Russian territory near Ivashkovsky, Malaya Loknya and Olgovka in the Kursk region. Olgovka is 20 kilometers from the border.

The Kursk invasion operation also demonstrates to Ukraine’s allies that it still has the energy to surprise its enemy and embarrass the Kremlin at a time when much of the news from the front lines has been unpleasant for Kiev.

And as analysts say, the goal of this new strategy is to put Russia in front of the prospect of an increasingly costly war financially, prestigiously and organizationally and force it to sit down at the peace negotiating table by November-December.”

Russia conducts ‘anti-terrorist operation’

Russia has imposed an “anti-terrorist operation” on three regions to try to stop a surprise cross-border incursion by Ukrainian troops.

Authorities in Kursk, Belgrade and Bryansk regions on the border with Ukraine, according to the BBC, can impose traffic and vehicle curfews and conduct wiretapping, among other measures.

Meanwhile, local emergency authorities said more than 76,000 people had been evacuated from areas bordering Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region.

Russian forces are battling thousands of Ukrainian forces up to 20 km deep inside the Kursk region, the fifth day since the biggest incursion of Ukrainian troops into Russian territory since the war broke out in late February 2022.

In fact, the Russian Nuclear Energy Agency has announced that the Ukrainian invasion is endangering a local nuclear power plant.

“The actions of the Ukrainian armed forces pose an immediate threat” to the Kursk nuclear power plant, Rosatom said in a press release, as reported by Russian news agencies.

“At this time, there is a real risk of strikes and provocations by the Ukrainian military,” the text added.

Russia’s state-run nuclear power company Rosatom has discussed the decommissioning of the nuclear power plant in the Kursk region with the IAEA following Ukraine’s invasion, Russia’s RIA news agency reported today.

After all, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has already appealed, in a press release, to show “maximum restraint in order to avoid the possibility of a nuclear accident”.