According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a Ukrainian sabotage group entered a Russian frontier region on Thursday and opened fire on civilians in a “terrorist act.”
The governor of the Bryansk region stated that “saboteurs from Ukraine” fired on a civilian vehicle in the border town of Lyubechane, killing two men and injuring a 10-year-old child.
Kyiv categorically refuted Russia’s claim.
Mykhaylo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, tweeted that it was “a classic example of a deliberate provocation.”
Russia has previously reported some Ukrainian missile and drone attacks on Russian border regions, including the Bryansk region. However, there have been no confirmed reports of Ukrainian ground forces entering Russia.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia reported on Thursday that FSB forces and regular troops clashed with “Ukrainian nationalists” who had entered Russia and taken hostages.
According to the FSB, the “nationalists” were then subjected to a tremendous Russian artillery assault and pushed back into Ukraine. According to the FSB, they abandoned a sizable cache of explosives in the village.
When Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, President Putin referred to the Kyiv government as “nationalists” and “neo-Nazis,” contending that Russia was compelled to act against them.
President Putin said on Russian state television on Thursday, “Today they committed another terrorist act, another crime, by infiltrating the frontier area and opening fire on civilians.”
“They opened fire after noticing that it was a civilian vehicle with people and children inside. These are the individuals who have taken upon themselves the mission of erasing our historical memory. They will accomplish nothing, and we will exert pressure on them “he said.
A video has surfaced online purporting to show members of the Ukraine-based Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) outside a local clinic. They entered Russia, according to a one-armed man in the video posted on Telegram.
The investigative journalism organization Bellingcat Monitoring describes the RVC as “a unit officially formed last year made up predominantly of anti-Putin, anti-Kremlin Russian far-right figures active in Ukraine.”
Michael Colborne, a Bellingcat expert, has identified one of the individuals in the video as RVC leader Denis Kapustin, also known as Nikitin.
“This RVC appears to do very little actual fighting or at least serious fighting,” Mr. Colborne said. Kapustin may have physical combat sports training, but he is not from any sort of military background.
In a text post accompanying the video, the RVC stated that it “entered the Bryansk region to demonstrate to our compatriots that there is hope and that free Russians armed with weapons can fight the regime.”
Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian military intelligence official, commented on the RVC assertion. “These are individuals who are armed and fighting against Putin’s regime and his supporters… Perhaps Russians are starting to wake up, realize something, and take some concrete measures “.
This week, Mr. Putin accused Ukrainian and Western operatives of stepping up their operations within Russia.
Russia claimed unmanned aerial vehicles struck a southern Russian airbase used to launch bomber attacks against Ukraine. Kyiv has not claimed drone attacks within Russia and has accused the Kremlin of propaganda.
