The Russian army said on Thursday that it repelled with its air force and artillery a Ukrainian attempt to “invasion” of a Russian border region involving several dozen soldiers and tanks. “After intense shelling of civilian settlements in the Belgorod region, Ukrainian terrorist groups numbering up to two companies of motorized infantry reinforced with tanks attempted to invade Russian territory,” the Russian Ministry of Security said. Defense on Telegram.
Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian authorities announced the death of three people following new Russian strikes on the capital of Ukraine, kyiv, targeted almost daily for more than a week.
Intensely bombarded for several days, the Russian region of Belgorod was the scene last week of a spectacular incursion by armed men from Ukraine, which raised questions about the solidity of the Russian border.
The attack was preceded by the “bombardment of civilian installations”, then “three attacks by Ukrainian terrorist groups were repelled” by the Russian military, supported by the air force, which carried out 11 strikes, and the artillery, which conducted 79, the Defense Ministry said. The attackers “suffered significant casualties” and “were repulsed”, he said.
A group calling itself the “Russian Volunteer Corps”, which says it is made up of pro-Kiev Russian fighters and which claimed a role in the incursion into Belgorod last week, however claimed on Thursday afternoon that its men were delivering fighting in Russian territory near Chebekino. It was impossible to independently verify this claim.