Russia claims it defeated incursion from Ukraine

Associated Press

Kyiv: Ukraine Russian troops and security forces quashed an alleged cross-border raid from Ukraine on Tuesday, claiming to have killed more than 70 attackers in a battle that lasted around 24 hours, a senior Moscow official said. Moscow blamed the raid that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs.

Kyiv portrayed it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions or to say with any certainty who was behind the attack or what the aims were. The battle took place in the Belgorod region, about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine.

The region is a Russian military hub, home to fuel and ammunition depots. It was not the first time Russia has alleged an incursion by Ukrainian saboteurs, but it was the first time the operation to counter the raid continued into a second day. The effort embarrassed the Kremlin and highlighted the struggles Moscow faces in its bogged-down invasion of Ukraine. Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the armed attackers were routed by local troops, air strikes and artillery.

“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 armoured combat vehicles and five pickup trucks used by the attackers were destroyed, he said.

Local officials alleged drones and artillery were also used in the assault. The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the raid targeted the rural area around the town of Graivoron, a town about 5 kilometers from the border. Twelve civilians were wounded in the attack, he said, and an older woman died during the evacuation.

The Russian news portal RBK, quoting unidentified sources in the regional interior ministry and territorial police, said Graivoron came under heavy shelling that lasted about five hours early Monday. After that, tanks fired at the Graivoron border checkpoint while the adjacent village of Kozinka came under mortar and rocket fire, RBK said, citing the same sources.

The attacking force was made up of 10 armoured vehicles and an unspecified number of troops, it said. Earlier Tuesday, the regional governor urged residents who had evacuated to stay put and not return home until they received official instructions to do so. He said a “counterterrorism operation” was underway. It was complete by early Tuesday evening, he said.

Gladkov also said that the Borisovka area, about 20 kilometers northeast of Graivoron, was hit by fire from the Ukrainian side of the border on Tuesday. No casualties were reported, he said, but he did not elaborate. Russian territory and Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine have also been hit by drones and explosions that have derailed trains, though Kyiv officials brush off accusations that they orchestrated them.

Ukraine said Russian citizens belonging to murky groups called the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion were behind the assault. Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said the attackers were Russian dissidents unhappy about Russian President Vladimir Putin's policies.