Russia says it has defeated alleged incursion from Ukraine, a day after it began
Russia’s military said Tuesday that it quashed what appeared to be one of the most serious cross-border attacks from Ukraine since the war began, claiming to have killed more than 70 attackers in a battle that lasted around 24 hours.
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Moscow blamed the raid that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv portrayed the incident as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It wasn’t possible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.
The battle — which took place in southwest Russia’s Belgorod region, about 45 miles north of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv — was a fresh reminder of how Russia itself remains vulnerable to attack, along with Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
The region is a Russian military hub holding fuel and ammunition depots and was included in President Vladimir Putin’s order last year to increase the state of readiness for attacks and improve defenses.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to say how many attackers were involved in the assault or comment on why efforts to put down the attackers took so long.
Such cross-border attacks embarrass the Kremlin and highlight the struggles it faces in its bogged-down invasion of Ukraine.
Belgorod, like the neighboring Bryansk region and other border areas, has witnessed sporadic spillover from the war, which Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022.
Far from the 932-mile front line in southern and eastern Ukraine, Russian border towns and villages regularly come under shelling and drone attacks, but this week’s attack is the second in recent months that also appears to have involved an incursion by ground forces. Another difference from earlier cross-border attacks is that Russia’s effort to repel it continued into a second day for the first time.
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Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said armed attackers were routed by local troop units, airstrikes and artillery fire.
“The remnants of the nationalists were driven back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit by fire until they were completely eliminated,” Konashenkov said, without providing evidence. He did not mention any Russian casualties.
Four armored combat vehicles and five pickup trucks used by the attackers were destroyed, he said. Local officials alleged that drones and artillery were also used in the assault.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said the raid targeted the rural area around the town of Grayvoron, about three miles from the border. Twelve civilians were wounded in the attack, he said, and an elderly woman died during the evacuation.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gladkov urged residents who had evacuated not to return to their homes until they received official instructions to do so. He said a “counter-terrorism operation” was underway.
While it is not the first time Russia has alleged an incursion by Ukrainian saboteurs, it is the first time the operation to counter the raid has continued for a second day, highlighting the struggles Moscow is facing amid its bogged-down invasion of Ukraine and embarrassing the Kremlin.
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The Russian news portal RBK, quoting unidentified sources in the regional interior ministry and territorial police, said Grayvoron came under heavy shelling that lasted about five hours early Monday. After that, tanks fired at the Grayvoron border checkpoint while the adjacent village of Kozinka came under mortar and rocket fire, RBK said, citing the same sources. Gladkov later reported that a Koznika villager had been killed.
The attacking force was made up of 10 armored vehicles and an unspecified number of troops, RBK said.
Gladkov also said fire from the Ukrainian side of the border Tuesday hit the Borisovka area, about 20 miles northeast of Grayvoron. No casualties were reported, he said without elaborating on the incident.
The governor complained in a video late Tuesday that federal authorities’ claims for the last year that “everything is under control” do not ring true in light of this attack and prior assaults. He appealed again to the Kremlin to strengthen defenses.
Since the war began, drones, explosions and missiles have hit fuel and ammunition depots, railroad equipment, bridges and air bases on Russian territory and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. Assassinations of Kremlin-appointed government officials and other public figures have also taken place in those areas.
Ukraine said Russian citizens belonging to murky groups called the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion were behind the assault.
Russian dissidents unhappy about Putin’s policies instigated the assault, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Tuesday.
“These are Russian patriots, as we understand it. People who actually rebelled against the Putin regime,” she said.
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The Freedom of Russia Legion said on Telegram that the goal was to liberate the region.
The Russian Volunteer Corps implied in a Telegram post that the attack was over, adding: “One day, we’ll come to stay.” The post went up at around the same time as the Russian Defense Ministry’s comment about quashing the assault.
The British Defense Ministry said Russian security forces “highly likely” clashed with partisans in at least three locations within Belgorod.
“Russia is facing an increasingly serious multi-domain security threat in its border regions, with losses of combat aircraft, improvised explosive device attacks on rail lines, and now direct partisan action,” it said in a tweet Tuesday.
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Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s top law enforcement agency, announced an investigation into alleged terrorism and attempted murder in connection with the incident.
Belgorod officials earlier this year said they had spent nearly $125 million on fortifications to protect the region.
Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that the raid “elicits deep concerns” and that a “bigger effort” is required to prevent attacks.
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The Russian Volunteer Corps claimed to have breached the border in early March. The shadowy group describes itself as “a volunteer formation fighting on Ukraine’s side.” Little is known about the group, and it’s not clear if it has any ties with the Ukrainian military. The same is true for the Freedom of Russia Legion.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces have made minor progress against Russian forces on the edge of Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city that Moscow claims to have captured, according to Maliar, the Ukrainian deputy defense minister.
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She said Tuesday that Ukrainian troops still control the southwestern outskirts of the city and that fighting continues in the suburbs, on Russia’s flanks.
Ukrainian military leaders say the fight in Bakhmut is not over.
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