Russian residents flee after incursion from Ukraine
Fighters who infiltrated from Ukraine were battling Russian forces on Tuesday in a border region, where authorities told fleeing residents it was not yet safe to go home.
On the second day of fighting, details of the biggest cross-border raid into Russia of the 15-month war – including the number of fighters involved, their affiliation and the extent of the clashes – could not be independently confirmed.
Two anti-Kremlin groups have claimed responsibility. Russia blames Ukraine, which denies any direct role.
“The cleansing of the territory by the Ministry of Defense together with law enforcement agencies continues,” Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, where the incursion occurred, said in a Telegram message.
“I now appeal to the residents of the Graivoron district, [who] temporarily left their homes, it is not possible to return yet,” he said.
Gladkov said one elderly woman had died during the evacuation. At least eight people had been wounded, several buildings were damaged, and many residents had left, he said Monday.
The two groups that claimed responsibility, the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), both say they comprise armed Russian fighters seeking to overthrow
Putin.
President Vladimir
‘Absolutely unprotected’
The Legion says it is recognized by Ukraine, and its members have fought there against Russia. The RVC has claimed responsibility for previous attacks inside Russia, including a cross-border raid in the neighboring Bryansk region in March.
“Good morning everybody, except Putin’s henchmen,” the Legion said on Telegram. “We have met the dawn on liberated territory and are moving further on.”
“Once again, the myth that the citizens of the Russian Federation are safe and the Russian Federation is strong has been destroyed,” it said in a later post.
“There are no reserves in the Russian Federation to respond to military crises – all servicemen are dead, wounded or in Ukraine. The Russian Federation is absolutely unprotected. There is panic in the Belgorod region.”
Moscow, which says its invasion of Ukraine last year was a response to a security threat from Kyiv, said the attackers were Ukrainian saboteurs, seeking to deflect attention from Russia’s capture of the city of Bakhmut three days ago, after the bloodiest land battle in Europe since World War II.
“This once again confirms that Ukrainian militants are continuing their activities against our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “This requires a great deal of effort from us, and these efforts are continuing.”
Asked about reports that the attackers were ethnic Russians, he said: “They are Ukrainian fighters from Ukraine. There are many ethnic Russians living in Ukraine. But they are still Ukrainian militants.”
Russian investigators said they were opening a terrorism case into the incursion.
Kyiv publicly denied blame for the raid, though some of its denials were pitched with apparent irony to mimic past Russian denials of a role in separatist movements in Ukraine.
Kyiv “has nothing to do with it,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted. “As you know, tanks are sold at any Russian military store, and underground guerrilla groups are composed of Russian citizens.”
The RVC released video of a fighter with what it said was a captured armored vehicle, putting a sticker with the group’s logo over the “Z” symbol used to identify Russian forces.
Other videos posted on Russian and Ukrainian social-media channels showed images of what were described as captured Russian servicemen and their identity documents.
Mash, a Russian news channel on Telegram, said drones had struck the roof of the Russian FSB security service building in Belgorod city overnight. (Reuters)