Russian forces have begun building defensive lines near the Kursk nuclear power plant as Ukrainian troops advance deeper into Kursk Oblast, the BBC reported on August 11, citing photos analyzed by BBC Verify.

The Ukrainian military launched the surprise incidence across the border on August 6, bringing regular Ukrainian forces into Russia for the first time. Ukraine has continued to advance further into the Kursk Oblast during the ongoing fighting.

Photos appear to show Russian forces digging trenches near the nuclear plant, while Ukrainian troops are reportedly moving within 50 kilometers of the nuclear facility, the BBC reports. said.

The nuclear power plant is located almost 80 kilometers from the border town of Kursk Oblast. Sudschain the focus of the first invasion of Ukraine. The independent Russian news portal IStories reported on August 9 that Russia Preparing for defense the Kursk power plant as Ukrainian troops approach.

In response to Ukraine’s offensive, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, called on both Kyiv and Moscow to “exercise maximum restraint” in order to avoid a nuclear accident.

According to Grossi, two of the nuclear power plant’s six nuclear reactors are shut down, while two others are fully operational. The remaining two reactors are under construction.

The Russian authorities have a “Anti-terror operation” in the border regions in response to the Ukrainian offensive. While the Russian Defense Ministry tried to downplay the Ukrainian incursion, on August 11 it also admitted that Ukrainian forces had reached the villages of Tolpino and Obshchy Kolodez, which are about 25 and 30 kilometers from the border, respectively.

president Volodymyr Zelensky On August 10, he said Ukrainian forces had begun “extending the war into the territory of the aggressor,” the first public admission of Ukraine’s cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast.

Ukraine’s unprecedented attack on Kursk Oblast brings the war back to Russian soil

Russian territory is under attack again after Ukrainian forces in large numbers launched an ambitious operation across the state border in Kursk Oblast on August 6. This time, the attack is not primarily led by small units of pro-Ukrainian Russian citizens and other foreign forces…