KYIV, Aug 9: Russia on Friday said it was deploying more troops and munitions to a frontier region where Ukraine has mounted a major ground offensive, while Russia struck a supermarket in east Ukraine, killing at least 10 people.
Kyiv's troops have been driving into Russia's western Kursk region since Tuesday in a surprise offensive that appears to be the most significant attack on Russian soil since Moscow invaded in February 2022.
Russia's defence ministry said it was sending columns of military hardware, including rocket launchers, artillery, tanks and heavy trucks to reinforce its defences in the region, state media reported Friday.
The Russian army said around 1,000 Ukrainian troops and more than two dozen armoured vehicles and tanks were involved in the initial attack, although it has since claimed to have destroyed many more pieces of hardware.
Kyiv has not officially taken responsibility for the attack, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia needed to "feel" the consequences of its invasion.
Both sides also stepped up aerial attacks behind the frontlines on Friday.
A Russian artillery strike on a supermarket in the east Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka during the middle of the day killed at least 10 people and wounded 35, Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in a post on Telegram. —AFP
