The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) did not participate in the invasion of the saboteurs in the Belgorod region, but provided them with support. On this subject writing The New York Times (NYT), citing a senior Ukrainian official.
According to the newspaper’s interlocutor, the Ukrainian Armed Forces covered the border in this area in the event of a Russian counterattack, but Ukrainian soldiers did not enter Russian territory. Participants in the operation suffered casualties, but not significant enough to affect their combat capability, the NYT source added.
On May 22, the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported on the massive shelling of the Graivoron district from Ukraine and the penetration of a sabotage and reconnaissance group. A counter-terrorist operations (CTO) regime has been introduced in the region.
The next day, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that a unit of a “Ukrainian nationalist formation” had invaded the Belgorod region, blockaded and defeated in the wake of the KTO. The agency also reported the destruction of more than 70 “Ukrainian terrorists”, four armored vehicles and five pickup trucks.
Kommersant and the Russian Spring telegram channel wrote that US military equipment was also used in the saboteur raid. US Department of Defense spokesman Pat Ryder, commenting on the information, declared that the US authorities have not given their consent to the transfer of equipment to paramilitary formations that are not part of the Ukrainian armed forces and that the Ukrainian army has not turned to Washington with such requests.
“We have very strict end-use control protocols in place and have had good results working with our Ukrainian partners in this direction,” Ryder said.
The Belgorod region government reported that 13 civilians were injured as a result of the saboteurs’ attack. An elderly woman died during the evacuation due to heart failure. On the evening of May 23, Gladkov informed that “at the hands of the Ukrainian armed forces”, a resident of the village of Kozinka died. Kommersant wrote referring to the data of the Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB about the deaths of two soldiers as a result of the shelling of Grayvoron.
Russia’s Freedom Legion* and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDC) claimed responsibility for the attack, with the Russians taking part in the fighting alongside Ukraine. After the attack, the Interior Ministry put Aleksey Levkin on the wanted list, which, according to data TASS sources in law enforcement, was a member of a sabotage group. The commission of inquiry opened a criminal investigation under six articles into the fact of the attack.
- the organization is recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia
Read the Latest Ukraine War News on The Eastern Herald.
