For Vladimir Putin, there is no doubt about the objective of the attacks launched in recent days against the southern regions of Russia: “undermine the presidential election” which is to be held in the country from March 15 to 17, said the Russian president on Wednesday March 13, during a television interview.
In fact, for a power which continues to promise its population a certain form of normality and “stability”after two years of war in Ukraine, the bombings and even more so the incursions of fighters from Ukraine into the Kursk and Belgorod regions are having a bad effect, even if they are not capable of disrupting the announced re-election of Vladimir Putin .
The town of Belgorod, 330,000 inhabitants, was the target of new bombings on Thursday, the most intense since the start of the week. Two civilians traveling by car were killed in two separate incidents, and at least a dozen others were injured. Several civilian buildings were also damaged. The day before, the regional headquarters of the FSB, the security services, had been hit by a drone. A resident contacted by The world evokes regular explosions and a situation “scary”.
Russian groups rally in kyiv
Groups of pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters, behind these attacks, issued a statement on Tuesday calling on civilians to evacuate border towns. These three units – the “Freedom of Russia” legion, close to former Russian MP Ilya Ponomarev, the “Russian Volunteer Corps” (RDK), oriented to the extreme right, and the “Siberian Battalion”, which would be formed in the fall of 2023 – claim to target military targets, “in response to the deadly bombings carried out every day on innocent Ukrainian civilians” from these southern Russian regions.
The Russian groups rallied to kyiv also claim to have carried out several incursions into villages in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, which has not happened since the end of 2023. The reality of the fighting in the border area is beyond doubt. On both sides, aerial or ground videos were broadcast, which show that armored vehicles were destroyed on both sides.
The precise situation on the ground is, however, difficult to establish, with neither side providing reliable information. Several videos broadcast by pro-Ukrainian Russian units, showing their installation in Russian villages or the flight of enemy units have been authenticated. But at least one, purporting to show fighters in the village of Tiotkino, in the Kursk region, is believed to be false. According to the conclusions of independent observers, the sequence was filmed on the Ukrainian side of the border.
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