CNN –
A group of anti-Putin Russian nationals – allied with the Ukrainian army – have claimed responsibility for an attack in Russia’s southwestern Belgorod region, as Moscow says it was fighting a group of saboteurs there.
According to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, an administrative building, several residential buildings and a kindergarten were damaged by shelling in the area. There were no fatalities.
In a Telegram post, groups calling themselves the “Legion of Freedom of Russia” and “Russian Volunteer Corps” said they “liberated” a settlement in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.
A Ukrainian official acknowledged that the units had been conducting an operation in the area but stressed that they were acting independently.
“We can confirm that this operation was conducted by Russian citizens,” Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency, told CNN.
He said the units were “part of the defense and security forces” when they were based in Ukraine, but were independent of Kiev when they weren’t: “In Russia they act as independent units.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to state media TASS, Kremlin forces are working to drive out a “sabotage and reconnaissance group.”
The situation in Belgorod is “the first time” that forces allied with Ukraine have launched “a cross-border land operation against Russian targets,” according to CNN’s Sam Kiley.
“This is of significant proportions and is obviously intended to cause significant consternation at least at the local authority level, if not at the Kremlin level,” Kiley told CNN’s Lynda Kinkade at Connect the World.
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A helicopter circles over Russia’s Belgorod region, where fighting between Russian defectors and pro-Kremlin troops took place during the war in Ukraine.
According to regional governor Gladkov, at least eight people were injured in the attacks, but there were no civilian fatalities in Belgorod.
“The situation remains extremely tense. “A sabotage and reconnaissance group, the Department of Defense and all law enforcement agencies have entered the area to conduct combat operations to protect our country,” Gladkov said in a livestreamed address on Monday.
Gladkov said that the Belgorod government is conducting “a house inspection in the border villages” and in the city of Graivoron to ensure the safety of the local population.
He added that “most of the population left the area by personal transport” and that the local government is providing assistance to those who are unable to leave the area on their own.
He also pointed out that district head Gennady Ivanovich Bondarev works with the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the police to evacuate people.
He previously said that Russian troops, border guards, the National Guard and the FSB are “taking the necessary measures to eliminate the enemy.”
Air defense forces shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the region, Gladkov said, adding that there were no casualties and Russian authorities are assessing possible damage on the ground.
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Aleksey Baranovsky, a representative of the Kiev-based Political Center of the Russian Armed Opposition – the political wing of Russia’s Freedom Legion – told CNN that the operation began on Sunday evening and fighting was “ongoing”.
He did not provide information on the number of fighters who had crossed the border into Russia.
Baranovsky said the group wanted to “liberate our motherland from Putin’s tyranny.”
In a Telegram post, the groups said they had “completely liberated the settlement of Kozinka in the Belgorod region.” [The] The first groups have entered Grayvoron.”
In another incident, the Legion of Freedom of Russia posted a video on Telegram Monday night that appears to show the blue and white so-called Free Russia flag waving over Moscow State University.
Other videos posted by the group also appear to show another Russian opposition flag waving over various parts of the Russian capital.
The group claimed no direct responsibility for the incidents, and CNN has not been able to independently verify the reports.
The Legion of Freedom of Russia consists of a few hundred die-hard, battle-hardened Russian volunteers who fight against their own people as part of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Caesar is a member of the group. He is a former teacher, father and has a wife living in Kiev. He told CNN last year that he dedicated his life to overthrowing Russian President Vladimir Putin and marching on Red Square and the Kremlin itself.
A devoted member of the Orthodox Church, he evokes nostalgia for the tsarist era before the Soviet Union. His unit is well equipped with modern armored vehicles, telescopic sights and the latest automatic weapons.
The legionnaires themselves have admitted that they are often treated with suspicion by Ukrainian soldiers, but hope to win them over with bravery on the battlefield.
Their apparent push along a border often used by Russian mortar and artillery teams as a fire base for attacks inside Ukraine will help further cement their reputation.
It also serves as part of ongoing psychological operations aimed at undermining support for the war in Russia and the fighting spirit of Russian soldiers themselves – signaling that they could be attacked at any time, even by their own compatriots.
Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, said: “Russian forces are working to expel and destroy the Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group from the territory of the Russian Federation. There are enough forces and means,” he told reporters.
He pointed to Bakhmut, which has assumed outsized importance in the conflict as Russian forces scramble to capture the eastern Ukrainian city while failing to make gains elsewhere.