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24-05-2023
MOSCOW: Moscow’s forces are continuing to engage in operations against cross-border raiders described alternatively as either armed Russian opposition groups or Ukrainian saboteurs who entered Russia from Ukraine in one of the most daring attacks on Russian territory since the Kremlin’s war on Kyiv began 15 months ago.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Tuesday that a “counterterrorism operation” was continuing against what he had earlier described as a Ukrainian “sabotage group” which had entered Russian territory in the Graivoron district bordering Ukraine.
The governor told residents who fled Graivoron that it was “not possible to return yet” to their homes.
“On the situation in the Graivoron district; the cleaning of the territory by the Ministry of Defence together with law enforcement agencies continues,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
One woman has been killed and two people wounded but Russian forces have been unable to reach them, he added.
Ukrainian news broadcaster Hromadske, citing Ukrainian military intelligence sources, said on Monday that two armed Russian opposition groups, the Liberty of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), consisting of Russian citizens, were responsible for the attack on the Belgorod region.
Little is known about the groups or their ties with the Ukrainian military. The RVC was founded last August and reportedly consists mostly of anti-Putin far-right Russian fighters who have links with Ukrainian far-right groups.
Ukraine intelligence representative Andrii Cherniak also said Russian citizens were behind the cross-border assault.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter that Ukraine had “nothing to do with it” and suggested that an “armed guerrilla movement” had emerged to oppose “a totalitarian country”.
“Ukraine is watching the events in the #Belgorod region of #Russia with interest and studying the situation,” he said. (Int’l News Desk)
