(Dan Tri) – Two armed groups stationed in Ukraine announced that they had launched an attack on western Russia.
Members of the Russian Free Corps near the front line in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine (Photo: Reuters).
Reuters reported that the Russian Free Corps and the Siberian Battalion announced on March 12 on the Telegram page that they had launched attacks on Russia from Ukraine.
These are two groups stationed in Ukraine and are said to include Russian members with anti-Kremlin views.
The two groups above posted videos showing their presence in areas described as Russian territory.
In the past, Russian officials have accused the above groups of operating under the direction of the Ukrainian military and the US Central Intelligence Agency.
In an announcement on the same day, Governor of Russia’s Kursk region Roman Starovoyt announced that the country’s air defense had `intercepted 11 Ukrainian drones and repelled Kiev forces’ attempt to cross the border`.
He noted that the threat of a missile attack in Kursk remains, as the village of Tyotkino, located just 2km from the Russian-Ukrainian border, is still being shelled by the Kiev army.
The Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian troops of trying to penetrate into the Kursk and Belgorod regions, and announced that Moscow forces together with federal border guards repelled the attack.
In recent times, Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of crossing the border between the two countries to attack.
Ukraine has not commented on the accusations from Russia.
Mr. Yusov said a third group, called the Russian Volunteer Corps, also participated in the attack.
The Russian Free Corps and the Russian Volunteer Corps have previously claimed responsibility for other cross-border attacks into Russia from Ukraine.
Responding to Ukrainska Pravda, Mr. Yusov said that members from the above three groups include `citizens of the Russian Federation`.
`They are operating completely independently on the territory of the Russian Federation and are performing tasks there. After all, this is not the first time these units and organizations have operated in the Russian Federation.
Russian border regions such as Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod, as well as the capital Moscow, have been regularly targeted by drones and missiles since Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022
According to observers, the attacks show certain vulnerabilities in the Russian air defense system deployed at facilities that are important in terms of security against enemy drones.