Now RUSSIA is afraid: State of emergency is declared across entire state of Belgorod as Ukraine's surprise attack continues with huge overnight drone attack, putting Putin on the back foot

Russia's entire Belgorod region was put under a state of emergency early this morning with tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes as Ukraine launched waves of artillery and drone attacks.

'The situation in our Belgorod region remains extremely difficult and tense due to shellings from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Houses are destroyed,civilians died and were injured,' governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

'Two settlements in Belgorod region were attacked by the Ukrainian Armed Forces' drones,' he said,adding that 'a state of emergency will be introduced on the regional level,followed by a request to the governmental commission to declare a federal state of emergency'.

Belgorod borders Ukraine's Kharkiv region and neighbours Kursk,where a state of emergency was implemented almost immediately after thousands of Kyiv's troops surged across the border and began seizing territory in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II.

Some 121,000 people have fled in Kursk alone since the start of the fighting,which has killed at least 12 civilians and injured 121 more,regional governor Alexei Smirnov told a meeting with Putin on Monday.

Close to 200,000 Russians are now said to have evacuated their homes amid the ongoing Ukrainian ground offensive in Kursk along with artillery and drone attacks in Belgorod. 

A Ukrainian soldier raises a Ukrainian flag in Guevo,Kursk Oblast,Russia released August 11,2024 in this still image obtained from a social media video

The Ukrainian advance in Kursk has also delivered a blow to Putin's efforts to pretend that life in Russia has been largely unaffected by the war. 

An enraged Russian President on Monday lambasted the incursion as a Western plot in its war with Russia,using Ukrainian soldiers to do their dirty work. 

'It is now clear why the Kyiv regime refused our proposals to return to a peaceful settlement plan. 

'To all appearances,the enemy,with the help of its Western masters,is doing their will. By the hands of the Ukrainians,the West is at war with us.

'But what kind of negotiations can we even talk about with people who indiscriminately strike at civilians,at civilian infrastructure,or try to create threats to nuclear power facilities?' the Russian president asked rhetorically,before instructing his armed forces to 'dislodge' the Ukrainian troops. 

His comments regarding Ukraine's alleged indiscriminate strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure will undoubtedly be ridiculed in Kyiv and the West.

Close to 200,000 Russian citizens have now been forced to flee their homes in Kursk and Belgorod while 12 civilians are said to have died. 

By contrast,the Kremlin chief's so-called 'special military operation' in Ukraine has killed thousands of civilians and driven millions from their homes. 

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