Russia claimed on Tuesday to have “crushed” the group that attacked the Russian region of Belgorod the day before from Ukraine, the most serious incursion into Russian territory since the start of Moscow’s offensive against its Ukrainian neighbor. “During the anti-terrorist operation, with the help of air and artillery strikes and the action of border defense units of the Western Military District, nationalist (Ukrainian) formations were blocked and crushed,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The main information:
- Russia claims on Tuesday to have “crushed” the group that attacked the Russian region of Belgorod the day before from Ukraine.
- Several drone attacks targeted, in the night from Monday to Tuesday, houses and an administrative building in the Russian region of Belgorod.
- Civilians evacuated from nine border towns with Ukraine.
- The Kremlin is concerned about the armed incursion into the Belgorod region.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the front line in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday.
Kremlin wants ‘more effort’ to counter armed incursions into Russia from Ukraine
The Kremlin on Tuesday expressed its “deep concern” on the second day of an armed group’s incursion into Russian territory from Ukraine, and called for “more efforts” to counter these increasing and growing attacks. magnitude.
“What happened yesterday arouses deep concern and once again demonstrates that Ukrainian fighters continue their activities against our country. This requires more efforts from us, these efforts continue to be made and the special military operation ( in Ukraine) continues so that this does not happen again,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Several border localities with Ukraine bombarded, civilians evacuated
Civilians have left at least nine Russian localities in the Belgorod region following the incursion of an armed group from Ukraine, the regional governor said on Tuesday, adding that several municipalities had suffered “many” bombardments.
“The clearing of the territories continues. Residents of Grayvoron, Novostroevka, Gorkovsky, Bezymeno, Mokraia Orlovka, Glotovo, Gora Podol, Zamostye and Spodaryusheno have been displaced,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, reporting dozens of artillery fire , the day before, in several border localities.
Zelensky back on Ukrainian soil
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the front line in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the presidency announced. The head of state “visited frontline positions in the Vougledar-Mariinka defense zone” where fighting with the Russian army has been going on for months, the presidency said in a statement, posting photos of Zelensky with servicemen.
The President of Ukraine met with Ukrainian marines on the occasion of the Day of these troops marked Tuesday in Ukraine and handed over state decorations to the servicemen while informing the creation of several new brigades of these units.
“Every day, on the battlefield, the Marines prove themselves to be a powerful force that destroys the enemy, liberates Ukrainian lands and performs the toughest tasks in the toughest conditions. And we need more such forces,” he said, quoted in the statement.
Several Ukrainian drone attacks in a Russian region, after an armed incursion
Several drone attacks targeted, overnight from Monday to Tuesday, houses and an administrative building in the Russian region of Belgorod, the target of an incursion by armed fighters from Ukraine, where the anti-terrorist operation was continuing on Tuesday, according to local authorities.
These attacks, which took place in Graivoron, the capital of the district of the same name, and in the village of Borissovka, did not cause any casualties or injuries, the governor of the Belgorod region said on Telegram. Vyacheslav Gladkov. “Two houses were attacked by drones in Graivoron” and caught fire, said Vyacheslav Gladkov.
In the village of Borissovka, a drone attacked an administrative building, then a new drone attack targeted a house, damaging its roof, according to the same source. The Belgorod region, and more particularly the Graivoron district located there, was the target on Monday of an incursion by armed fighters from Ukraine, which injured eight people and forced Russia to decree an “anti-terrorist” regime. ” and to evacuate civilians to try to repel this new attack on its soil.
If other attacks have taken place in recent weeks in this border region, it is the first to have taken on such a scale, with several villages hit by shells. The Russian security services (FSB) introduced in the afternoon the “legal regime of counter-terrorist operation zone” in the region, giving increased powers to the authorities to carry out armed operations, control civilians or even evacuate populations. This is a first since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.
The operation was claimed on a Telegram channel which presents itself as belonging to the “Freedom Legion for Russia”, a group of Russians fighting on the Ukrainian side, which had already claimed to be behind previous incursions in the same region. .