Russia repels more cross-border attacks
Russia says it has repelled an attempted incursion along its border with Ukraine by what it casts as pro-Ukrainian militants.
Russia’s defence ministry said it repelled three cross-border attacks near the town of Shebekino on Thursday. It accused Ukraine of using what it said were “terrorist formations” to carry out attempted attacks on Russian civilians.
“The selfless actions of Russian servicemen repelled three attacks by Ukrainian terrorist formations,” the Russian ministry said. “No violations of the state border were allowed.”
Russian army units, border guards and units of the Federal Security Service repelled the first attack at around 0100 GMT as two units with vehicles and tanks tried to penetrate the border near Novaya Tavolzhanka and Shebekino, the defence ministry said, adding there were three attacks from the Ukrainian side.
More than 50 Ukrainian fighters were killed and four armoured vehicles were destroyed, the ministry said. It added that up to 70 fighters, five tanks and four armoured vehicles were involved in the attack.
Ukraine denies its military is involved in the incursions into Belgorod and says they are conducted by Russian volunteer fighters.
Ahead of an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive in the 15-month war, Russia has come under repeated attack in recent days, including a major cross-border incursion and the biggest ever drone attack on Moscow.
Also Read: Russia accuses U.S of encouraging Ukraine in its attacks
Moscow blames Ukrainian “terrorists” for targeting Russia’s western border. Russian officials say the group of fighters is a proxy run by Ukraine.
The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), a far-right paramilitary group of ethnic Russians that supports Ukraine, claimed to be fighting inside Russia.
“The second phase promised by the RVC’s commander has begun!” it said on Telegram, referring to a previous incursion, alongside images of fighters firing weapons.
The Belgorod region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Ukrainian armed forces had repeatedly shelled Shebekino with Soviet-designed Grad 122mm rockets, setting alight a dormitory and damaging an administrative building.
At least nine civilians were injured, he said, with hundreds of children, women and elderly being evacuated. Unverified video showed a fire at a large building in Shebekino.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin was being regularly briefed on the situation at the border and noted that Western powers had refrained from condemning the attacks on Russian territory that it said Ukraine had carried out.
“As before, there is not a single word of criticism for the Kyiv regime – or any condemnation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
