RUSSIAN authorities declared a state of emergency in a second region today following attacks by Ukrainian troops, who pressed on with a major cross-border incursion for a second week.

Ukrainian forces claimed to have taken further territory in the Kursk region, captured more Russian prisoners and destroyed a bomber in attacks on military airfields.

The Russian border region of Belgorod, which is next to Kursk, declared a regional emergency due to heavy Ukrainian shelling.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov described the situation in his region as “extremely difficult and tense” as Ukrainian attacks destroyed homes and caused civilian casualties, unnerving local people.

Children in particular are being moved to safety, he said on his Telegram channel, adding that about 5,000 children are in camps in safe areas.

He said the previous day that around 11,000 people had fled their homes, with about 1,000 staying in temporary accommodation centres.

A federal emergency was declared in Kursk last Saturday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kiev’s forces were continuing to gain ground, taking moving forward by about a mile today.

“We continue to advance further in the Kursk region,” he wrote on Telegram. “From one to two kilometres in various areas since the start of the day. And more than 100 Russian prisoners of war in the same period.”

Additionally, the troops destroyed a Russian Su-34 jet used to launch devastating glide bombs at Ukrainian front-line positions and cities, Ukraine’s General Staff said.

The surprise offensive, which began on August 6, could involve as many as 10,000 Ukrainian troops backed by armour and artillery provided by Western nations, making it the largest attack on Russia since World War II.

Ukraine’s top military commander claims that his forces have advanced about 390 square miles into Kursk, though it is not possible to independently verify that claim.

The figure would amount to capturing in just one week almost as much Ukrainian land as Russian forces took — 450 square miles — between January and July this year, according to calculations by Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War.

A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that Kiev had no intention of occupying the Russian territory it says it is holding.

The goal is to stop Russia from firing missiles into Ukraine from Kursk, he said.