Troops react after breach in Belgorod
KYIV: Russian forces pressed on with a “counter-terrorism operation” in a border district yesterday, a regional governor said, a day after what appeared to be one of the biggest cross-border incursions from Ukraine since the war began 15 months ago.
Russia said on Monday it was battling an incursion by Ukrainian saboteurs who crossed into the Belgorod region. A Ukrainian presidential adviser said on Twitter the Kyiv government was watching the situation but “has nothing to do with it”.
The Ukrainian outlet Hromadske cited Ukrainian military intelligence as saying two armed Russian opposition groups, the Liberty of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, both consisting of Russian citizens, were responsible for the attack.
The Russian regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on the Telegram messaging service a “counterterrorism operation” was still going on.
“The cleaning of the territory by the Ministry of Defence together with law enforcement agencies continues,” Mr Gladkov said.
On Monday, Mr Gladkov said at least eight people had been wounded, several buildings damaged and many residents had left. He said he had restricted movements and communications.
Mr Gladkov said two buildings were attacked by drones overnight and people could not return to their homes.
He said one woman died during the evacuation on Monday and there were reports of two people wounded. The “number one” task yesterday was to reach them, he said.
The Russia Volunteer Corps published video footage late on Monday showing what it said was a fighter inspecting a captured armoured vehicle. Another video showed what it said were fighters operating an armoured vehicle on a country road.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed and that work was under way to drive out the “saboteurs”, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The Telegram channel Baza, which has links to Russia’s security services, said there were indications of fighting in three settlements along the main road into Russia. The “Open Belgorod” Telegram channel said power and water had been cut off to several villages.
The Liberty of Russia Legion said on Twitter it had “completely liberated” the border town of Kozinka. It said forward units had reached the district centre of Graivoron, further east.
Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.