Pro-Ukrainian armed teams launch incursion into Russia | EUROtoday

Issued on: 12/03/2024 – 13:30Modified: 12/03/2024 – 13:31

4 min

Groups of pro-Kyiv volunteer fighters, made up of Russians who oppose the Kremlin, mentioned that that they had damaged into the Kursk and Belgorod areas, whereas Moscow mentioned it had foiled a number of Ukrainian makes an attempt to infiltrate the border.

“We crossed the border,” the Freedom of Russia legion, a militia that claims to be made up of Russian residents preventing on behalf of Ukraine, mentioned it a publish on Telegram.

It printed a video from a drone that claimed to point out the car being blown up and fighters on the streets of the village of Tyotkino, on the border between Russia and Ukraine.

Moscow mentioned it had fought off a number of assaults.

“At about 3 am (00:00 GMT), Ukrainian terrorist groups, after intensive shelling of civilian sites, tried to invade Russian territory in three directions,” Russia’s defence ministry mentioned.

“All the Ukrainian attacks were repelled. The enemy was hit by aircraft, rockets and artillery,” it added.

Another assault at 8 am (05:00 GMT) at Tyotkino was additionally foiled, it added.

Ukraine-based militias – made up of Russian residents who oppose Moscow’s invasion and have taken up arms on the aspect of Kyiv – have claimed to be behind earlier armed incursions into Russian territory.

‘Tried to interrupt by’

A spokesman for the Freedom of Russia legion mentioned preventing was ongoing as of 1:15 pm (10:15 GMT), whereas Russia’s defence ministry mentioned it thwarted the final assault at 8:25 am (05:25 GMT).

Kursk Governor Roman Starovoyt mentioned a shoot-out in his area had taken place, however a full-scale incursion had been thwarted.

Read extraA take a look at the Free Russia Legion, the pro-Ukrainian group that attacked Belgorod

The Belgorod area additionally got here beneath a sequence of drone assaults on Tuesday, the regional governor mentioned.

Russia’s FSB mentioned that since Sunday it had repelled numerous tried cross-border assaults within the Belgorod and Kursk areas, in an announcement cited by Russian state media.

Another pro-Kyiv paramilitary group, the Russian Volunteer Corps, posted night-vision video on Tuesday purporting to point out its troops engaged in a firefight.

‘Not in management’

A spokesman for Ukraine’s army intelligence, Andriy Yusov, mentioned that the Russian volunteer teams weren’t performing beneath orders from Kyiv by launching the assault.

But he added that the assaults confirmed “the Kremlin is once again not in control of the situation in Russia.”

The Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion mentioned they carried out a string of raids into the Belgorod area in May and June 2023, claiming to have taken momentary management of a number of settlements after breaking by a border checkpoint.

In March final 12 months, Russia launched a wave of retaliatory missile strikes on Ukraine after it mentioned a sabotage group killed civilians within the Bryansk border area.

Read extraUkraine dismisses Russian reviews of lethal assault in Bryansk as ‘provocation’

A spokesperson for the political wing of the Freedom of Russia Legion advised AFP on Tuesday the assault was timed to coincide with Russia’s March 15-17 presidential elections.

“This is not an election at all. It is the next stage of a usurpation of power, the formation of Putin’s dictatorship under the guise of elections,” spokesman Alexei Baranovsky mentioned.

Major oil refinery

The cross-border assault got here as Kyiv launched considered one of its most vital drone strikes on Russia up to now within the two-year warfare.

Two Russian vitality websites, together with one of many nation’s largest oil refineries some 800 kilometres (500 miles) from the border, had been hit in a single day, Russian officers mentioned.

Ukraine has claimed accountability for a wave of drone strikes and blasts at Russian vitality websites in current months, justifying the assaults as legit focusing on of infrastructure websites used to gas the invasion.

A serious oil refinery in Kstovo, simply exterior the town of Nizhny Novgorod, was attacked by drones early on Tuesday morning, the regional governor mentioned.

Russia’s Lukoil vitality big, which owns the refinery, mentioned it had “temporarily suspended” operations there after an unspecified “incident”.

On its web site, Lukoil describes the power as “one of the leading oil refineries in Russia” with an annual capability of 17 million tonnes.

Videos on social media confirmed a big blaze raging in a facility presupposed to be the refinery, billowing black smoke into the sky.

Another drone crashed right into a gas depot and ignited a hearth in Oryol, round 160 kilometres from the border, based on the regional governor.

Also on Tuesday, Russia’s state information companies cited the defence ministry as saying a Russian Il-76 army transport aircraft with 15 on board had crashed within the Ivanovo area, round 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Moscow, after an engine hearth.

(AFP)