Russia continues on Tuesday with the operation to expel Russian anti-Putin militias that entered Belgorod Oblast on Monday in what appears to be one of the largest cross-border incursions from Ukraine since the conflict began 15 months ago. After the attack at night by several drones, the authorities have asked the population that evacuated the area not to return to their homes yet.
This attack "is causing deep concern," Dimitri Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, told reporters in Moscow. And he assured that for this reason the military campaign in the neighboring country must continue to prevent the repetition of this type of enemy operations.
"Ukrainian militants continue their activities against our country. This requires great efforts, which continue," the Kremlin spokesman added.
Belgorod Governor Viacheslav Gladkov said the Russian Defense Ministry and other security forces continue to clear territory in the Graivoron district. "The cleaning of the territory by the Ministry of Defense together with law enforcement continues," Gladkov said on his Telegram account.
A woman born in 1941 died during the evacuation of the inhabitants of this area. In total, according to Gladkov, on Monday the civilian population left at least nine towns after the incursion.
He warned all of them that they still cannot return to their homes after several drone attacks have been recorded. According to the senior official, the drones hit two buildings overnight. "When (the return) is safe, the municipal heads and I will inform immediately through social networks," he said.
On Monday, Gladkov said that ten villages had been shelled and 12 people were injured. Several buildings had been damaged and many residents had left.
"All necessary actions are being carried out by law enforcement. We are waiting for the conclusion of the anti-terrorist operation announced yesterday," Gladkov explained.
Russia on Monday denounced the incursion into its territory of "saboteurs" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As a consequence, the authorities declared the regime an anti-terrorist operation. This includes provisional restrictions on the free movement of people, which are intended to ensure the safety of the region's citizens, Gladkov said.
This regime provides for documentation controls, resettlement of residents of certain areas and increased security at the facilities. Among other measures, industrial activities that require the use of explosives and radioactive, chemical and biological substances were suspended, he said.
Kyiv, for its part, denied having anything to do with it and attributed the action to two groups of Russian citizen volunteers opposed to the Kremlin fighting alongside the Ukrainian army, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Russian Freedom Legion. The goal is to create "a security zone" that protects Ukrainian civilians, said Andrii Yusov of Ukraine's Directorate of Military Intelligence.
The main goal of those raids would be to create a "security zone" that would protect Ukrainian civilians from Russian shelling, he said.
These two formations claimed on Telegram and other social networks combat actions in Belgorod and Bryansk, Russian border regions with Ukraine.
Russia's Freedom Legion claimed it had invaded a border town, Kozinka, for the first time since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In addition, he had sent units to the city of Graivoron. "We advance. Russia will be free," read a message on Twitter from this group.
“We are not your enemies. Unlike Putin's zombies, we do not harm civilians and do not use them for our purposes," the Russian Freedom Legion said on Telegram.
The Kremlin does not agree with this version. Asked about the participation of Russians in the attack on Belgorod, Peskov said Tuesday that they are all "Ukrainian fighters from Ukraine."
"There are many ethnic Russians who live in the Ukraine, but they are still Ukrainian fighters," he replied.
For the Kremlin, after the incursion into Belgorod there is a diversionary maneuver with which Ukraine wants to divert attention from what happened over the weekend in Bakhmut, and minimize the political effect of the loss of the city, which Russia calls Artiomovsk.
On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its troops had taken Bakhmut after eight months of fighting. The Ukrainian authorities have denied this and say the battle continues.
"We fully understand the purpose of such sabotage... to minimize the political effect of the loss of Artiomovsk," said Dimitri Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
