(Photo : MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian troops operating with the Ukrainian Armed Forces have reportedly occupied settlements in the Belgorod region, which is located close to the Ukrainian border.
A revolutionary group opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have liberated a Russian city near the Ukrainian border.
The Freedom of Russia Legion reported that it had liberated the town of Kozinka in the Belgorod region and that its forces were currently infiltrating the town of Grayvoron alongside the Russian Volunteer Corps.
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Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region, stated in a Telegram message that a Ukrainian "sabotage" group had penetrated the city of Grayvoron. According to The Hill, Gladkov stated that Russian forces, the National Guard, and the Federal Security Service were all collaborating to "eliminate the enemy."
The Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security identified the combatants in Belgorod as Russian resistance organizations but praised their "resolute actions against Putin's criminal and aggressive regime."
The Freedom of Russia Legion also released a statement on Monday identifying themselves as Russians who "no longer wanted to justify the actions of the offenders in power" and who are now "taking up arms to defend our and your freedom."
In a video that went ubiquitous on the Internet, the group criticized the Kremlin and Putin's regime, accusing them of pervasive corruption. The group also warned residents of Belgorod to "remain indoors" as they moved through the region.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the region bordering Ukraine has been repeatedly shelled in assaults that have resulted in the deaths of dozens of people, and the region's principal city was hit in April by a Russian fighter jet that dropped ammunition over Belgorod by mistake.
In the most recent incursion, members of a "sabotage" cell crossed from Ukraine, according to Russian authorities, who added that Vladimir Putin had been informed. Per SCMP, Gladkov said that eight people were injured and that authorities were assisting people in evacuating the area.
Overnight, Russian forces bombarded the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro with missiles and drones, while Kyiv insisted it would continue to fight for control of the volatile eastern city of Bakhmut. The "anti-terror regime" implemented in the southern region entails enforcing a number of restrictions and measures, including enhanced security and communications surveillance, as well as granting special powers to security services.
Between 1999 and 2009, when Russian authorities fought insurgents during Moscow's second military campaign in the mountainous region, a comparable regime existed in Chechnya.
For the attack on Belgorod, members of the anti-Kremlin Freedom of Russia Legion claimed responsibility. In a video published by a Telegram channel purporting to represent the group, a camouflaged spokesman, encircled by armed men in fatigues, proclaimed, "Russia will be free!" - a common slogan among Russian opposition activists.
The attack on the region of Russia was reported prior to a widely anticipated Ukrainian offensive, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that his nation is not yet prepared. The Russian mercenary group Wagner and the regular army both reported over the weekend that Bakhmut had fallen, but Ukraine stated on Monday that its forces were still fighting for the ruined city.
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The Freedom of Russia Legion was established weeks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, according to Ilya Ponomarev, an exiled Russian politician who claims to be the group's political representative.
In March, the Supreme Court of Russia declared the Legion a terrorist organization, as per Newsweek. Monday, the group claimed via social media that it and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) had "entirely liberated" the Belgorod settlement of Kozinka and that its units had entered Graivoron.
Ponomarev, the only member of the Russian parliament to vote against Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014, told Newsweek that both Kozinka and Graivoron had been "liberated" by the legion and RVC.
On Monday, Ukrainian news agencies reported that radio stations broadcast a message stating that Belgorod will shortly "become free."
The RVC announced on its Telegram channel that its combatants had arrived in Russia, posting a brief video of members standing in front of road signs in the Belgorod region. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense's Main Intelligence Directorate verified that RVC and Legion fighters had entered the Belgorod region, stating that they were conducting an operation to create a "security zone to protect Ukrainian civilians."
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