Extract from ABC News
In short:
More than 76,000 people have been evacuated from areas in Russia's Kursk region, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vows to "restore justice" in a major incursion.
Russia has been fighting intense battles against thousands of Ukrainian troops as deep as 20 kilometres inside the Kursk region.
What's next?
Belarus sent more troops to reinforce its border with Ukraine on Saturday, saying Ukrainian drones had violated its airspace.
More than 76,000 people have been evacuated from areas bordering Ukraine in Russia's Kursk region, as Ukraine's major attack on Russian sovereign territory deepens.
In Kyiv, witnesses reported explosions from counterattacks in the Ukrainian capital.
Russia has been fighting intense battles against thousands of Ukrainian troops as deep as 20 kilometres inside the Kursk region in the sixth day of Ukraine's biggest attack on Russian sovereign territory since the start of the war in 2022.
Kursk regional governor Alexei Smirnov said 13 people had been injured in Kursk city on Sunday, including two seriously, when debris from a downed Ukrainian missile fell on a building during the night.
Russia's air defence units destroyed 14 Ukraine-launched drones and four Tochka-U tactical ballistic missiles over the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday.
It said three drones were destroyed over the border Belgorod region.
One drone each was destroyed over the Bryansk and Orlov regions, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
Two dead in Kyiv air raid, Ukraine says
Meanwhile, on early Sunday, it launched an air attack on Kyiv, with air defence systems engaged in repelling the strikes, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
"Air defence units operating, air raid alert continues," Mr Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Reuters witnesses also said they heard at least two explosions of what sounded like air defence units at work.
Fragments of a missile fell on residential buildings in Brovary district, neighbouring Kyiv, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine added on the platform.
A man and his four-year-old son were killed after debris from the downed Russian weapon fell on the house they were living in, Ukrainian officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said the house was hit by drone debris.
The father and son were found dead in the rubble of a building during search and rescue operations, Ukraine's emergency services posted on Telegram on Sunday.
Three other people were wounded in the Kyiv air attack, including a 13-year-old-child, emergency services added.
Mr Yermak posted on Telegram that the attack proved it was "necessary" to destroy Russia's military infrastructure, "because the enemy does not accept other arguments".
Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said it was the second time this month that Kyiv was targeted.
Mr Popko said ballistic missiles did not reach the capital but rather suburbs took the hit, while drones aiming for the capital were shot down.
Kyiv, its surrounding region and all of eastern Ukraine were under air raid alerts with threats of ballistic weapons being launched at the country, Ukraine's air force said on Telegram.
Ukraine incursion continues
The alerts comes as Ukraine units — supported by swarms of drones and heavy artillery fire — quickly carved out a sliver of the Western Russian territory beside the border, while sabotage units pierced deeper inside Russia, according to Russian war bloggers.
There is fighting on the outskirts of Sudzha, about 10 kilometres from the Ukraine border.
The town has an important pipeline transit hub for Russian natural gas exports to Europe.
Debris from a downed Ukraine-launched drone damaged an administrative building and utility facility in the town of Voronezh — about 300 kilometres from Sudzha — the region's Governor Alexander Gusev wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday.
The regional governor of Voronezh — 300 kilometres from Sudzha — said an administrative building in the town had been destroyed during a Ukraine drone attack, but no one was injured or killed.
Sixteen drones were downed over the Voronezh region, Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the fight for the first time on Saturday, in a nightly video address.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had discussed the operation with top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, while not forgetting the battles troops face on the difficult eastern front.
"Today, I received several reports from commander-in-chief Syrskyi regarding the front lines and our actions to push the war onto the aggressor's territory," he said.
"I am grateful to every unit of the defence forces for ensuring that. Ukraine is proving that it can indeed restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor."
Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry said its forces were continuing to "repel the attempted invasion by the Ukrainian armed forces".
The ministry added intense battles were focused around Malaya Loknya, Olgovka and Ivashkovskoye, settlements about 10-20km inside Russia.
Russia's top general Valery Gerasimov said on Wednesday the attacks had been halted, but Russia has thus far failed to push the Ukrainian forces back over the border.
Asked about Ukraine's incursion, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Friday local time the United States was "in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts," but that he wouldn't comment until "those conversations are complete".
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said she had sent an appeal to the United Nations demanding it condemn Ukraine's actions in Kursk.
In a Telegram post, Ms Moskalkova said she was asking the UN Human Rights Commissioner to "take measures to prevent gross mass violations of human rights".
Belarus accuses Ukraine of airspace violation
Meanwhile, Belarus sent more troops to reinforce its border with Ukraine on Saturday, saying Ukrainian drones had violated its airspace in the course of the Kursk incursion.
Belarus's foreign ministry summoned Ukraine's charge d'affaires, demanded measures to ensure such incidents would not recur and suggesting a repeat would prompt Belarus to consider whether Kyiv's diplomatic presence in Minsk was "appropriate".
President Alexander Lukashenko, addressing a meeting in eastern Belarus, said air defence forces on Friday destroyed several Ukrainian drones after they violated Belarusian airspace in the Mogilev region bordering Russia.
Mr Lukashenko, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest allies, said others were later destroyed near the Russian city of Yaroslavl.
"I don't understand why Ukraine had to do this. We have to look into it," the BelTA news agency quoted him as saying.
"But we have … made ourselves clear and conveyed to them that any provocation will not go unanswered."
The Ukrainian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier on Saturday, the Russian defence ministry said Russian forces had intercepted six drones in the Yaroslavl region.
ABC/Wires
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