Pro-Ukraine fighters ‘liberate’ village in Russia’s Belgorod region
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A group of anti-Kremlin fighters stormed Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine on Monday, moving along a main road in armoured vehicles as Russian forces rushed to respond.
The sabotage group, made up of Russians who have aligned themselves with Ukraine’s military, claimed to be “liberating” Russian territory. The Kremlin promised to “destroy” the group, and videos shared by Belgorod residents showed attack helicopters flying over houses in the area.
While the anti-Kremlin Russian groups have previously mounted operations within Russia, this appears to be the first in which the goal is to occupy territory. A Ukrainian military intelligence official confirmed his government’s knowledge of the operation but stopped short of claiming direct involvement.
The fighters in the videos appear to be from two Ukraine-based groups who oppose the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine: the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Free Russia Legion. Both have claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack inside their native country.
The Legion posted on its channel on the Telegram messaging app on Friday that it had “completely liberated” a tiny border settlement called Kozinka just inside Russia, and was moving inwards towards Graivoron, a settlement 60km from the regional centre. “Russia will be free!” it declared.
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“We are Russians just like you. We are people just like you. We want our children to grow up in peace and be free people, so that they can travel, study and just be happy in a free country,” a fighter of the Free Russian Legion said in a video message.
A second video published by the group on a closed Telegram channel purported to show the body of a slain Russian border guard lying amid a mess of papers and Russian passports in an office, with a portrait of President Vladimir Putin hanging on the wall. The authenticity of the video could not be independently confirmed.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, acknowledged the incursion. In a short post on Telegram, he said that five people from a local village had been injured by shelling.
One Russian state media outlet reported that the fighters had seized the local town hall of another tiny settlement, adjacent to Graivoron and just across the border.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that work was “under way to squeeze Ukrainian saboteurs from Russian territory and to destroy this sabotage group”. He added that “there are enough forces and means on the ground” to do so.
Putin had been informed of the incursion, Peskov added. He said that the goal of the operation was to “divert attention” from Bakhmut, referring to a claim by Russia on Sunday that its forces had captured the eastern Ukraine city. Kyiv insists that the battle for the town is “not over”.
While Ukraine stopped short of claiming involvement in the attack, Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the country’s military intelligence department, told Ukrainian state media that Kyiv was aware of an operation being carried out by Russian citizens in order to create a “security zone” to protect Ukrainians near the border and to occupy territory there.
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The Russian Volunteer Corps is headed by Russian far-right extremist and former mixed martial arts fighter Denis Nikitin and is composed of other Russians opposed to the Putin regime.
Nikitin, who ran a white nationalist clothing company before the full-scale invasion, did not respond to requests for comment on Monday. But he posted several videos to the group’s Telegram channel that appeared to show armed members of the group on Russian territory in the Belgorod area.
In one video, fighters in uniforms are seen driving an armoured vehicle with Ukrainian military markings. Another shows the group posing in front of signs indicating they had entered several Russian villages.
The Russian Volunteer Corps has carried out several similar incursions into Russia since early March, after which Russia’s Supreme Court recognised the group as a terrorist organisation.
Nikitin told the Financial Times in March that he and his fighters wanted to prove that some of Russia’s most heavily guarded border areas could be breached.
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Last week, Nikitin told the FT that he and his unit were behind a series of attacks on Russia’s railway lines in the Bryansk region. “We are concentrated on the railway war we are waging in the Bryansk area, pretty successfully,” he said.
The FT could not corroborate his claims but they align with similar incursions and attacks that were confirmed to have been conducted by the Russian Volunteer Corps. Russian authorities have opened criminal cases into the railway attacks.
The Free Russia Legion claims also to be composed of Russian citizens, including Russian soldiers who defected to the Ukrainian side, and formed the unit with the help of Ukraine’s state security service. Its goal, the unit has said, is to “protect Ukrainians from real fascists”.
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Re: WW3 Countdown
521Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth: patiently bearing till he receive the early and latter rain.
Behold, we account them blessed who have endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is merciful and compassionate.
Behold, we account them blessed who have endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is merciful and compassionate.