Ukraine says Russian armed groups behind border raid on Russia

AL Jazeera News:

Russian forces are battling a cross-border incursion by fighters – described alternatively as either armed Russian opposition groups or Ukrainian saboteurs — who crossed the Ukrainian frontier in what appeared to be one of the most daring attacks on Russian territory since Moscow’s war on Kyiv began 15 months ago.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Monday that a Ukrainian “sabotage group” had entered Russian territory in the Graivoron district bordering Ukraine and was being repelled by local forces.

Ukrainian news broadcaster Hromadske, citing Ukrainian military intelligence sources, said two armed Russian opposition groups, the Liberty of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), consisting of Russian citizens, were responsible for the attack on the Belgorod region. Little is known about the groups or their ties with the Ukrainian military. The RVC was founded last August and reportedly consists mostly of anti-Putin far-right Russian fighters who have links with Ukrainian far-right groups.

Ukraine intelligence representative Andrii Cherniak also said that Russian citizens were behind the cross-border assault.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter that Ukraine had “nothing to do with it” and suggested that an “armed guerrilla movement” had emerged to oppose “a totalitarian country”.

“Ukraine is watching the events in the #Belgorod region of #Russia with interest and studying the situation,” he said.