Legions of Russian defectors fighting for Ukraine launched an incursion into several Russian border towns on Tuesday, and Ukraine hit fuel facilities in one of the largest drone strikes of the war.
Fighters from the Russian Freikorps, the Siberian Battalion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) said they had entered the Belgorod and Kursk regions on Tuesday morning and released a series of videos they claimed to show with Russian troops on Russian soil The clashes included the destruction of an armored vehicle.
Militia spokesman Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian lawmaker, claimed that “the border town of Lozova Yarudka in the Belgorod region is completely under the control of the liberation forces.” He added that fighting was continuing in the town of Teyotkino in Kursk Oblast.
FoR issued a statement on the messaging app Telegram, claiming that “the Russian Liberation Forces have begun the Spring Liberation Movement” and calling on the Russian public to provide information on the location of military installations.
The Corps also led a cross-border incursion last spring and added a message targeting non-violent anti-Kremlin groups that held rallies following the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny last month. “Not flowers on the protest leader’s grave, but lead on the executioner’s chest,” FoR posted. “Russia, wake up!”
The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged the incursion by so-called “Ukrainian terrorists” but claimed its forces “frustrated Kiev’s attempts to break through Russian border territories in the Belgorod and Kursk oblasts.”
However, independent open-source investigators have located footage from the clashes well within the Russian border.
Pro-Kremlin military media reported fierce fighting but claimed the invaders had been pushed back.
“The enemy with armored mobile units, infantry and light equipment is trying to break through in the direction of Grevoronsky,” Eddie Sr. said of the Belgorod region. “Our artillery is working, our aviation is striking… there is very heavy fighting going on in several areas along the country’s borders.”
Russian war blogger and propagandist Semyon Pegov reported that “attempts to breach the border began in the Kharkiv region around 3 a.m.”
“About 50 people moved towards the Belgorod area, but were detected in time by aerial reconnaissance. After firing from our army and border guards, the enemy was forced to retreat to their original positions.”
Pegov added that a separate incursion was launched in the western Kursk region, using tanks and heavy vehicles, resulting in an unspecified number of civilian casualties. Schools in Kursk were reportedly closed.
Local authorities in Belgorod, Russia, also reported missile and drone attacks in the area.
Andriy Yusov, spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, said the groups were part of Ukraine’s “security and defense forces” but suggested they acted independently.
“They are citizens of the Russian Federation and are at home [in Russia] They have the right to take any action they deem necessary under the circumstances to protect their civil rights and liberate their country from Russia’s Putin dictatorship,” he said.
The defector group took part in several previous cross-border attacks, including last spring’s attack on Belgorod, where they were able to briefly seize Russian territory and kill senior russian officer.
The mysterious “FoR” regiment, formed at the start of the war to fight under the blue and white Russian flag, is said to number in the hundreds.
RDK was founded in August 2022 by far-right leader Denis Kapustin.The organization issued a mission statement It was suggested last year that a victory in Ukraine could lead to Russia undergoing a “transition to a nation-state”.
Ukraine launched a massive drone strike on Tuesday morning, hitting targets across Russia.
According to reports, a fire broke out at the refinery of multinational oil company Lukoil in the Nizhny Novgorod region, about 420 kilometers east of Moscow, after being attacked.
The company closed a unit of the plant following the incident, the company’s press department announced.
Another drone struck Russia’s second-largest oil refinery in the town of Kirish, but the outcome has yet to be determined.
Russia said it had shot down 25 drones over Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian regions and cities. Attacks were also reported at several other locations.
Analysts said the ground and air strikes could be timed to coincide with this week’s Russian election, which will see President Vladimir Putin win a fifth term.
Attacks on energy infrastructure are likely to fuel public dissatisfaction over fuel costs ahead of the vote.
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