On Tuesday night, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, declared that he was lifting a “counter-terrorism regime” that had imposed a number of restrictions akin to martial law because the Russian defense ministry and security services were still engaged in a “mopping up” operation.
Written by Chris Muhizi Minembwe Capital News 8:20pm Nairobi Kenya Time.
Moscow has asserted that it has defeated a militia incursion from the Ukraine that resulted in a flurry of disorderly clashes on Russian soil over the previous two days.
A few hours earlier, the Russian defense ministry asserted that it had “trapped and liquidated” groups of Russian warriors opposed to Vladimir Putin, who had declared their intention to free their nation from his rule.
The Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion were the targets of artillery and bombing raids, according to a series of videos the ministry released.
It was impossible to independently verify the videos. A building that resembled the Grayvoron border checkpoint, where the militias had previously published video of a Russian border guard laying in a pool of blood, was among the targets of one of the airstrikes.
They are based in Ukrainian territory and seemed to be armed with US-made military vehicles, including Humvees and what appeared to be International Maxxpro 1224 mine-resistant vehicles, even though Ukraine has denied any link to the forces.
The US announced last year that it would send the Ukrainian military several hundred of those vehicles.
The units’ members, who are anti-Putin fighters with ties to the Russian far right, uploaded films of themselves in which they claimed that the border was “split open” and that they had taken control of a Russian armored personnel carrier.
According to conservative estimates, there are 80 militia members, while some Russian military bloggers connected to the defense ministry claimed there may be as many as 500.
Ukrainian officials have directly compared the use of native Russians against the Kremlin to Russia’s use of “little green men,” or unmarked soldiers, during the annexation of Crimea and the early stages of the Donbass conflict.
Ukrainian military intelligence claimed that this could create a “defensive corridor” to stop shelling across the border.
The move across the border was thought to be a potential “shaping” operation intended to draw Russian focus away from the battlefield before to an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.