The governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Tuesday that one person was killed and eight were wounded in the attack by the army.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday afternoon that security forces had killed 70 soldiers and destroyed four infantry fighting vehicles and five trucks. The ministry’s statement could not be independently verified.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the border attack was an attempt by Ukraine to distract from Russia’s occupation of Bakhmut, a long-held city in eastern Ukraine that Russia said this week it had captured.
After the events of the past, including drone hits and attack with weapons in Bryansk region, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the officials to tighten security in Belgorod and other areas adjacent to Ukraine, but the new attack showed that Russia is still unable to protect the border zone. Previous security failures have come to a close harsh criticism from Russian hardliners.
The army, called the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Legion of Free Russia, is made up of Russian ethnic fighters, including Russian citizens, who oppose Putin and say he is trying to “liberate” their country. Some people in these groups are known to be members of the Russian Nazi Party or have extremist views.
For example, the leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps, Denis Kapustin, was a veteran of the mixed army who was allied with European forces throughout Europe.
The groups, which nominally operate under the Ukrainian army, published dark, grainy videos they said they filmed on Monday night, of fighters standing near street signs in the Belgorod area. The Washington Post could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the videos.
In short, the slogan using the initials of the Russian Volunteer Corps reads: “The soldiers of the RDK have crossed the border again.” Soon Russia will be free.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, denied direct involvement by Kyiv and said the armed forces were acting alone. Writing on Twitter, Podolyak said that Ukraine is watching the situation “with interest and studying the situation” – the government’s official response to the attack on Russian territory.
Footage published on Russian media is said to show explosions in the region on Monday, including an attack on Russia’s border. At night, more movies he appeared saying that he was reporting an attack on FSB buildings. On Tuesday morning, Russian forces were said to be still fighting in Belgorod.
The Washington Post has confirmed some of the incidents in the Belgorod area, including three videos of what appears to be a terrorist group on the Kozinka border in Russia.
One of the videos showing a soldier with yellow scotch marks of the Ukrainian army, next to a ruined building in Kozinka resort. Some feature armored vehicles with Ukrainian military insignia and a third, with aerial photographs, captures thick smoke rising from the main road from Kozinka.
Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, said on Tuesday at the beginning of Tuesday that the Russian army is “cleansing” the border of the Ukrainians. He asked the evacuees in Grayvoron, a Russian region located a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine, to hold off on returning to their homes until it is better.
“There is information that there are two wounded people in the villages that the enemy entered.” Gladkov wrote on the Telegram messaging platform, apparently confirming that pro-Ukraine groups are still active in Belgorod. “So far the security forces have not been able to reach them.”
While Russian and Ukrainian officials have confirmed that Russian forces have crossed the border from Ukraine and carried out other protests, the extent of the violence and the details of the incident remain unclear.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said it was “very likely” that the attacks would take place, adding that Russia would use the incident to support what the Kremlin described as abuses during the war.
The US State Department also said that it has explained to Ukraine that the military aid from the United States should not be used for attacks outside the borders of Ukraine but that it is in the hands of Ukraine to decide on military actions.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what happened in Belgorod. On Monday, Mr. Yusov told Ukrainian journalist Suspilne that Russian forces carried out the attack to protect Ukrainian civilians from crossing into Russia in the border region – a frequent occurrence in Ukrainian regions along the country’s northeastern border.
Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that the incident in Belgorod was concerning, but said Putin did not plan to hold a Security Council meeting on the issue. “A special military operation is continuing to prevent this from happening in the future,” Peskov said, using a familiar Russian term for the conflict in Ukraine. He also said that the Investigative Committee of Russia, a federal law enforcement agency, has opened a case against Belgorod.
Natalia Abbakumova and Mary Ilyushina in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this story.