X / @WarTranslatedA video of the raid, from the Siberian Battalion. It is unclear where this image was recorded
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 11:33
After almost a year of silence, Russian militias are again fighting against President Putin in their own country. They invaded their own country from Ukraine to fight the Russian army.
On Telegram report the self-appointed volunteer corps Legion of Freedom for Russia and the Russian Volunteer Corps that they have now captured the village of Lozova Rudka in the Russian region of Belgorod, and that fighting is taking place in the village of Tyotkino in the neighboring Kursk region. This cannot be independently verified: the Telegram channels show many images of fighting, but it is unclear how far the militias have penetrated into Russia.
NOS
Last year, these groups also made the news with their raids from Ukraine, which ultimately did not lead to sustainable territorial gains. The militias say they operate independently, but are supported by Ukraine with weapons, training and intelligence. The Russian Volunteer Corps was founded in the summer of 2022 by the well-known neo-Nazi football hooligan Denis Nikitin.
‘Ukrainian saboteurs’
The Russian news agency Ria confirms on the authority of the governor of Kursk that there has been an attack by “Ukrainian saboteurs” on the army in his region, but the attack is said to have been repulsed. According to the governor, one resident of Tjotkino was injured during the fighting.
The Russian security service FSB also reports that an attack from Ukraine has been repulsed, killing around 100 ‘militants’ and destroying several armored vehicles.
The Siberian Battalion, part of the Ukrainian army, is also said to be involved in the latest attacks which was founded last year. It consists of Russian soldiers who defected to Ukraine.
In a statement on Telegram, the Siberian Battalion said that “we are now finally home. As promised, we are going to bring freedom and justice to our Russian country. We have said before that it is not possible to peacefully remove the dictatorial regime in Russia to get.”
Observers on social media hint at the possibility that the raids are mainly intended to scare Russians ahead of this weekend’s Russian presidential elections:
In a statement to the Ukrainian news site Pravda, that country’s military intelligence service DIU distances itself from the militias: “These are Russian citizens who independently and autonomously try to achieve their goals on Russian territory.”
The new incursion by volunteer groups was accompanied by a major drone attack by Ukraine on Russian territory. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, at least 25 Ukrainian drones and nine missiles were shot down not only over the border regions of Kursk and Belgorod, but also near the major cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The Ukrainian attacks caused a fire in the large Norsi refinery near Nizhny Novgorod, more than 400 kilometers east of Moscow. The refinery produces on average about 11 percent of the total amount of gasoline in Russia, and production is now temporarily halted.
2024-03-12 10:33:52
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