プーチン氏、ウクライナ軍の「駆逐」命令　越境攻撃で１２万人超避難

【モスクワＡＦＰ＝時事】ロシアのウラジーミル・プーチン大統領は１２日、ウクライナ軍による越境攻撃で１２万人以上が避難したとの報告を受け、領内に侵入したウクライナ軍を「駆逐」するよう軍に命じた。（写真は、ロシアの首都モスクワの大統領府で、国際軍事・技術フォーラム「アーミー２０２４」の開会の辞を動画で述べるウラジーミル・プーチン大統領）
　ウクライナは今月６日、ロシア西部クルスク州に奇襲攻撃を仕掛け、２８の町村を制圧した。この越境攻撃は、外国軍のロシア領への攻撃としては第２次世界大戦以降最大とされる。
　クルスク州のアレクセイ・スミルノフ知事はプーチン氏との会合で、ウクライナ軍による越境攻撃開始以降、約１２万１０００人が州外に避難したと報告。攻撃により、民間人少なくとも１２人が死亡、１２１人が負傷したと述べた。
　スミルノフ氏は、ウクライナ軍が国境から少なくとも１２キロ進軍し、２８の町村を掌握したとしている。新たな戦線は４０キロに及んでいる。
　プーチン氏はテレビ中継された政府高官との会合で、「敵の明白な目標の一つは不和の種をまき」「ロシア社会の結束を破壊する」ことにあると指摘。「国防省の主要任務は言うまでもなく、領内から敵を駆逐することだ」と訴えた。
　クルスク州当局は１２日、避難区域を拡大し、人口約１万４０００人の地区も含むと発表した。隣接するベルゴロド州も、国境地帯で住民の避難を開始したと明らかにした。
　一方、ウクライナ軍のオレクサンドル・シルスキー総司令官は１２日に投稿した動画でウォロディミル・ゼレンスキー大統領に対して、「現時点では、ロシア領約１０００平方キロを制圧している」と述べ、制圧範囲はロシア側の主張の２倍以上であることを示唆。
　ほぼ全戦線で戦闘が続いているが、「戦況はわが軍が支配している」と主張した。
　ゼレンスキー氏は夜に行った国民向けの演説で、越境攻撃は「純粋に安全保障上の問題」で、同国軍が制圧したのは「ロシア軍がわが国のスムイ州への攻撃を仕掛けた地域」だと説明した。 【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/13-17:10）

President Vladimir Putin ordered his army on Monday to dislodge Ukrainian troops who have entered Russian territory as authorities said over 120,000 people had been evacuated away from the fighting.
Kyiv launched a surprise offensive into Russia's western Kursk region last Tuesday, capturing over two dozen settlements in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II.
Ukraine's military chief Oleksandr Syrsky told President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video posted Monday that his troops now control about 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory and are continuing offensive operations.
Putin told a televised meeting with government officials that one of the obvious goals of the enemy is to sow discord and destroy the unity and cohesion of Russian society.
The main task is, of course, for the defence ministry to dislodge the enemy from our territories, he said.
Zelensky told the nation in his evening address that the cross-border offensive was purely a security issue, capturing areas from which the Russia army struck at our Sumy region.
Some 121,000 people have fled the Kursk region since the start of the fighting, which has killed at least 12 civilians and injured 121 more, regional governor Alexei Smirnov told the meeting with Putin.
Authorities in Kursk announced on Monday they were widening their evacuation area to include a district with some 14,000 residents. The neighbouring Belgorod region also said it was evacuating a new border district.
Ukraine has pierced into the region by at least 12 kilometres (seven miles) and has captured 28 towns and villages, with the new front 40 kilometres long, Smirnov said.
But Syrsky said that as of now, about 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory are under control, suggesting the area captured is more than twice as large.
He said that fighting was ongoing along almost the whole front and the situation is under our control.
Putin said Russia would respond by showing unanimous support for all those in distress and claimed there had been an increase in men signing up to fight.
The enemy will receive a worthy riposte, he said.
- 'Maximum losses' -
The assault appeared to catch the Kremlin off guard. Russia's army rushed in reserve troops, tanks, aviation, artillery and drones in a bid to quash it.
But it conceded on Sunday that Ukraine had penetrated up to 30 kilometres (20 miles) into Russian territory in places.
A Ukrainian security official told AFP, on condition of anonymity over the weekend, that the aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses and to destabilise the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border.
The Ukrainian official said thousands of Ukrainian troops were involved in the operation.
Russia's defence ministry said on Monday that its air defence systems had destroyed 18 Ukrainian drones -- including 11 over the Kursk region.
- 'It's scary' -
Smirnov said Monday that more than 46,000 residents in the Kursk region have applied for financial assistance.
Russia's rail operator has meanwhile organised emergency trains from Kursk to Moscow, around 450 kilometres away, for those fleeing.
It's scary to have helicopters flying over your head all the time, said Marina, who arrived by train in Moscow on Sunday, declining to give her surname. When it was possible to leave, I left.
Across the border in Ukraine's Sumy region, AFP journalists on Sunday saw dozens of armoured vehicles daubed with a white triangle -- the insignia apparently being used to identify Ukrainian military hardware deployed in the attack.
At an evacuation centre in the regional capital of Sumy, 70-year-old retired metal worker Mykola, who fled his village of Khotyn some 10 kilometres from the Russian border, welcomed Ukraine's push into Russia.
Let's let them find out what it's like, he told AFP. They don't understand what war is. Let them have a taste of it.
Analysts think Kyiv may have launched the assault to relieve pressure on its troops in other parts of the frontline.
Russia's defence ministry said Monday troops had accelerated the speed of advance in the eastern Donetsk region and taken the hamlet of Lysychne in their push towards the city of Pokrovsk.
The Ukrainian official said Kyiv's troops are not pulling back troops from the (Donetsk) area, while the intensity of Russian attacks has gone down a little bit.
The Ukrainian official said he expected Russia would in the end stop the Kursk incursion.
Ukraine was bracing for a large-scale retaliatory missile attack, including on decision-making centres in Ukraine, the official said.
burs/rlp