In a humiliating day for Vladimir Putin, an armed incursion by Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin unnerved a border region just days before Russia’s presidential election.
The cross-border ground assault weakened President Vladimir Putin’s argument that life in Russia has been unaffected by the war, though he remains all but certain to win another six-year term after eliminating all opposition.
The Russian Defence Ministry said that Moscow’s military and security forces killed 234 fighters while thwarting the incursion.
In a statement, the ministry blamed the attack on the “Kyiv regime” and “Ukraine’s terrorist formations,” insisting that the Russian military and border forces were able to stop the attackers and avert a cross-border raid.
It also said the attackers lost seven tanks and five armoured vehicles.
But a video posted by the Freedom of Russia Legion showed Putin’s troops running away from the scene on foot.
The reports of border fighting earlier on Tuesday were murky, and it was impossible to ascertain with any certainty what was unfolding in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions.
Cross-border attacks in the area have occurred sporadically since the war began and have been the subject of claims and counterclaims, as well as disinformation and propaganda.
Soldiers who Kyiv officials say are Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine claimed to have crossed the border.
The Freedom of Russia Legion, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Siberian Battalion released statements and videos on social media claiming to show them on Russian territory. They said they wanted “a Russia liberated from Putin’s dictatorship”.
The authenticity of the videos couldn’t be independently verified.
Fighters coming out of Ukraine attempted to reach the town of Tetkino, which lies close to the border, according to the governor of Russia’s Kursk region, Roman Starovoit. He said Tetkino was being shelled.
“There was an attempt by a sabotage and reconnaissance group to break through. There was a shooting battle, but there was no breakthrough,” he said in a video message on Telegram.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the Tetkino attacks were driven back, but provided no further details.
It also said Ukrainian fighters made at least four attempts to cross into the Belgorod region but all attacks were repelled by warplanes, artillery and missiles.
The representative of Ukraine’s intelligence agency, Andrii Yusov, told Ukrainska Pravda that the military groups are made up of Russian citizens.
