2024-03-15 17:46:12
There is intense fighting in the Russian regions bordering Ukraine. However, the Belgorod and Kursk regions are not attacked by Ukrainians, but by Russian partisans. They have been fighting against President Vladimir Putin’s regime for more than a year and are sending messages to the Kremlin from liberated Russian villages. They claim that Russian soldiers prefer to run away from them.
“Give your children a normal and civilized future.” Anti-Putin Russians launched cross-border attacks from Ukraine into Russia. | Video: Reuters
“The Kursk and Belgorod regions are now zones of active fighting. I confirm this,” Ukrainian HUR military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told Reuters on Thursday.
“As the volunteers and rebels claim, we are talking about Russian citizens defending their civil rights against the Putin regime with guns in hand because they have no other choice,” he added.
The information was indirectly confirmed by Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, who wrote on his Telegram account that there are no Ukrainian troops in one of the attacked areas.
Russian military bloggers have already written about the fact that partisans are moving near the village of Kozinka, which lies directly on the border with Ukraine. Earlier this week, Russia’s Defense Ministry only said it had thwarted an attack by the Ukrainian military.
Crossing the Rubicon
The strike on Russian territory is believed to have been launched by two groups earlier this week: the Russian Freedom Legion and the Siberian Battalion. The first group said on Telegram that due to the “limited military operation” taking place in both regions, it is asking residents of some towns to leave the area. A second group described seeing panic in the city of Grajvoron and convoys of cars trying to leave.
On Tuesday, the Russians from the Legion of Freedom to Russia said on Telegram that they had penetrated the territory of the Russian Federation with the help of tanks. “We have crossed the Rubicon,” they wrote on the social network. They also stated that members of the Russian army fled from one village, leaving army equipment on the spot, wrote the ČTK agency.
Russians like you
The Legion of Freedom Russia military unit is made up of Russian volunteers or defectors from the Russian army who went to Ukraine and joined the side of Kiev in the war. Their goal is to fight the Kremlin regime and remove Putin from power.
“We are Russians like you,” they said in a video message when they first occupied Russian villages last May. “The only difference is that we no longer want to defend the actions of a criminal who seized power. We took up arms to defend ourselves and our freedoms. It’s time for everyone to take responsibility for their future. It’s time to put an end to the Kremlin dictatorial regime,” the British newspaper The Guardian quoted from the video.
Russian regions bordering Ukraine report explosions, rocket impacts or drone attacks quite often. But Ukrainian soldiers do not cross the border. Russian authorities blamed Ukrainian saboteurs for the incursions last May, but according to Kyiv, Russians fighting on the side of Ukraine invaded the region. Russian authorities have repeatedly reported similar attacks since then.