A group of pro-Ukrainian forces said Friday they were fighting Russian forces on the outskirts of a village just inside Russia’s western border, a day after Moscow announced it had repulsed three border attacks.
The attacks followed a major incursion into western Russia’s Belgorod region on May 22-23, and increased cross-border shelling in the past few weeks, as Ukraine prepares to launch a major counter-offensive to retake Russian-occupied territories to the east and south.
The Russian Freedom Corps said in a statement: “There is now fighting on the outskirts of the village of Novaya Tavolganka (in the Belgorod region). Unfortunately, fighters were injured, but freedom is gained with blood.”
Several attacks targeted Belgorod, Russia, during the past weeks
Reuters could not verify the situation in this area.
The group says it consists of Russians fighting the government of President Vladimir Putin in an effort to create a country that will be part of the “free world”.
This group, along with the Russian Volunteer Corps, which was founded by a far-right Russian nationalist, revealed that they were planning the attacks and not on orders from Ukraine, which denies its involvement in the matter.
Russia describes the two groups as “terrorists” fighting by proxy for Kiev. The governor of the Belgorod region said that two women were killed and two wounded in Ukrainian bombing on Friday.
The Russian Freedom Corps blamed Moscow for the bombing, according to a post on the Telegram app. And he published pictures that he said were of one of its tanks in the village of Novaya Tavolganka, and the pictures showed soldiers hiding behind a wall during an exchange of fire.
Alexei Baranovsky, a spokesman for the political wing of the Russian Freedom Corps, told Reuters the cross-border attacks were aimed at scattering Russian defenses and forcing Moscow to divert forces from inside Ukraine to shore up the border.
“One of our tactical goals is to draw in Russian forces from other parts of the Ukrainian front,” he said in an interview in Warsaw on Thursday.
He continued, “This is one goal, and the other is to show the Russians that a different country can be established and that an armed group has emerged ready to fight for freedom. We want people to join us.”
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2023-06-02 17:48:58
