Attack on Russian territory
Reporter reports: Pro-Ukrainian fighters “are said to have crossed the border”
Watch the video: Reporter reports – pro-Ukrainian fighters “are said to have crossed the border”.
Video source: n-tv
Pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters have apparently attacked several regions near the border in Russia. Reporter Kavita Sharma reports from Pavlohgrad what is known about the incidents.
Pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters have apparently attacked several regions near the border in Russia. Alexei Baranovsky, a fighter in the Freedom for Russia militia, spoke on Tuesday of “ongoing fighting” in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, in which the Russian army lost several armored vehicles. Shortly before, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had repelled the attacks in both regions using fighter jets, rockets and artillery. It was an “attempt by the Kiev regime” to achieve a “breakthrough” in the border area of the Belgorod and Kursk regions. The attack, which was launched in three directions at around 3 a.m. (local time, 1 a.m. CET), was thwarted.
In addition, an attack on the small town of Tyotkino, which is located directly on the Russian-Ukrainian border, was repelled in the morning hours. According to Russian state media, the Russian domestic secret service FSB also stated that several cross-border attack attempts had been thwarted since Sunday. Militia member Baranowsky told the AFP news agency that the attack on Russian territory was planned with a view to the Russian presidential elections, which will take place from Friday to Sunday – and in which President Vladimir Putin’s renewed victory is virtually certain from the outset.
Russia: Governor confirms attacks
The governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported “shots” at the town of Prilesje near the border. Among other things, they hit a high-voltage line. A few hours earlier, Ukraine had carried out one of its most serious drone attacks on Russian territory since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. According to authorities, the attacks hit, among other things, an important oil refinery in Kstovo, a suburb of the metropolis of Nizhny Novgorod, around 800 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry also reported the downing of 25 drones in seven regions, most of them over the border regions of Belgorod and Kursk.
According to their own statements, the “Russian Volunteer Corps” was also involved in the attack by pro-Ukrainian Russian militias. The militia released footage of its fighters in battle using night vision devices. A spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence said the Russian volunteer groups were not acting on Kiev’s orders in their attack. “On the territory of the Russian Federation, they act absolutely autonomously, on their own initiative, and pursue their social and political goals,” Andriy Yusov told Ukrainian media.
Last year, several Russian pro-Ukrainian militias attacked Russian territory. In May and June 2023, “Freedom for Russia” and the “Russian Volunteer Corps” said they managed to capture several settlements in the Belgorod region. In March, the “Volunteer Corps” committed to an attack on the Bryansk border region. Russia then hit Ukraine with a wave of missile attacks. The pro-Ukrainian units are militias made up of Russian citizens who oppose Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and fight on the side of Kiev.