Moscow claims to have eliminated “terrorists” who have been operating on its soil in the Belgorod region for two days, including pro-Ukrainian Russian groups. The Kremlin had declared the establishment of the “anti-terrorist” regime in the area, a device which had last been used in Chechnya between 1999 and 2009 and which severely limits individual freedoms, giving sweeping powers to the forces of the order and the army. The opposing forces infiltrated nine localities around Graivoron with heavy armored means from Ukraine, destroying a border post in their path.
According to some sources, fighting was still ongoing on Tuesday and pro-Ukrainian forces still infiltrated 15 to 20 kilometers into Russian territory. Although the contours of this action are still uncertain, it would seem that it is carried out by two groups made up mainly of Russian citizens: the Russian Freedom Legion (integrated into the Ukrainian army’s International Volunteer Legion) and the Corps Russian volunteers. These two groups are known to be proxies for kyiv, American armored vehicles delivered to Ukraine are particularly recognizable on the videos posted by these soldiers.
While the Russian volunteers hold the checkpoint
The Russian authorities announced on Tuesday the death of a civilian, killed in a village in the Belgorod region. “A civilian from the village of Kozinka was killed by the Ukrainian armed forces,” regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. Kozinka is one of the localities where the group of fighters claimed responsibility for the attack.
On the night of Sunday to Monday, May 22, videos of soldiers claiming to be pro-Ukrainian and posing in front of a sign in a Russian village near the border were published. During the day, other documents showing a bombed border post and soldiers marked with yellow and blue (like the Ukrainian soldiers) appeared on the Internet. It showed armored columns crossing the border towards Belgorod. Ukrainian intelligence confirms that the Russian army retreated in the face of hostile forces in the area, but Kiev denies being behind the operation, the first of this magnitude on Russian territory since the start of the war in Ukraine .
After launching the evacuation of the localities concerned, the Russian governor of the region admitted that there was a certain confusion, without anyone being able to clearly identify the objective of these forces. In a video, one of the two groups claimed to be behind the coup and announced that the operation to liberate Russia had begun. He also offered Russians to join them and promoted the “I want to live line”, a telephone contact set up by Kiev to facilitate the surrender of Russian soldiers who would like to defect.
The “freedom” legion, integrated into the Ukrainian army and composed mainly of Russians, announced today that the operation for the liberation of Russia has started. “We are like you. We want our children to be able to live in peace.” 3/8 pic.twitter.com/vcJ1nNqgII
On the night of Monday to Tuesday, an FSB building in Belgorod was hit by a drone strike. Tuesday in the middle of the day, a day and a half after the start of hostilities in this region, Moscow claims to have destroyed several armored vehicles and killed “more than 70 militants” Ukrainians. However, pro-Russian Telegram channels claim at the same time that Russian volunteers (pro-Ukrainians, them) have taken two new villages in the region. Moscow is said to have moved reinforcements from the Ukrainian front to deal with the threat.
If the declared objective of the groups of Russian volunteers is to overthrow Vladimir Putin and to establish pro-Ukrainian separatist zones in Russia, this operation does not seem sized to achieve it. One of the goals would also be to repel the Russian forces, accused of having taken advantage of the proximity of the border to strike Ukrainian villages on the other side, with artillery.
The impact seems more symbolic: it is the first incursion into Russian territory since World War II, carried out with Western vehicles, and moreover by Russian rebels opposed to the Putin regime. While Kiev has just completely lost control of Bakhmout, in the east, this operation could also aim to disorganize the Russian device by opening a new front, so as to lighten the enemy defenses where the army wishes to carry out the counter- offensive, touted as imminent for weeks by Ukrainian communications.
