Ukraine invasion: Partisans storm Russian villages
Fighters backed by tanks stormed checkpoints on the Russian border before pushing 8km deeper and overrunning three villages.
Fighters backed by tanks and claiming to represent an anti-Putin militia have stormed checkpoints on the Russian border before pushing 8km deeper and overrunning three villages.
The GUR, Ukraine’s military intelligence, said a group of Russian partisans backed by Kyiv, were conducting an operation in the Belgorod region aimed at bringing down President Vladimir Putin.
It was being carried out exclusively by Russian citizens, GUR spokesman Andriy Yusov said.
“Today in the Russian Federation, Russian citizens took up arms,” he said. “It is the next stage of fighting against Putin’s regime.
“This is the biggest unrest in Russia to date. They have ambitious political objectives: regime change and bringing the criminal Putin and his regime to justice.”
He said the struggle would also unfold on “other territories of today’s Russian Federation”.
The men who carried out the raid were Russian, but they were wearing Ukrainian camouflage, holding NATO-standard rifles and driving American-made Humvees into battle, under the watchful eye of Ukrainian reconnaissance teams.
Drone video posted to Telegram by Ukrainian military channels showed shells blasting Russian border posts and columns of fighting vehicles, including Humvees, surging down the road into Russia. One appeared to show a tank driving through a border post, firing at Russian positions.
Another showed a Russian helicopter flying at low altitude over the area, trailing flares to combat anti-aircraft missiles. Ukrainian forces later reported shooting down an Mi-8 helicopter north of Belgorod city. Fighting was also reported in Dronovka, 40km to the north.
The Freedom of Russia Legion said on Telegram that it had “liberated” the village of Kozinka and entered Graivoron with the Russian Volunteer Corps.
“We are Russians just like you. We are distinguished only by the fact that we no longer want to justify the actions of criminals in power and took up arms to defend our land and your freedom,” the group said. “Today is the time for everyone to take responsibility for their future. It’s time for the Kremlin’s dictatorship to end.”
One video showed a bearded soldier smiling to the sound of outgoing artillery fire and repeating altered lyrics to a Russian punk rock song called Everything is Going According to Plan.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov blamed “a sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Ukrainian armed forces” for the attack. He said an “anti-terror regime” would take effect in Belgorod, giving increased powers to security services and placing restrictions on the public.
At least six people were injured by shrapnel in the attack, he said, urging people to evacuate the area.
Although Russian partisan units have made two previous forays across the border, this was the first time they had tried to seize settlements with heavy artillery and hold them. The assault prompted civilians to flee en masse from the border area, with videos on social media showing chaotic traffic jams and columns of buses on the move.
The GUR spokesman insisted Ukrainian forces were not involved in the attack, but that they shared with the partisans a “unified vision of Putin’s criminal war against Ukraine” and the need for a “democratisation of Russia”.
“What is happening highlights the need to create a demilitarised zone outside the territory of Ukraine on the border territories of Russia, where no military will threaten Ukraine nor the population of the territories of the Russian Federation,” he said.
He claimed that the Russians had evacuated a site for the storage of nuclear weapons in the area.
Intelligence documents leaked online in April by US Airman Jack Teixeira suggest Ukraine had been planning a similar operation for some time. “Ukraine provides comprehensive support to Russian volunteers ready to liberate Russian territories from President Putin’s tyranny by armed means,” one document reads.
“Such detachments are equipped with various qualitative types of NATO weapons; the personnel has passed respective training for usage of such weapons and has successful combat experience from various parts of the frontline in Ukraine. The reporting speaks of volunteer infiltration operations into Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod oblasts being planned for March-April 2023 in order to seize control over territories and declare newly created states.”
The Times
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