Vladimir Putin has claimed the incursions into the Russian territory being carried out by pro-Ukraine voluntary units have “failed”.
Yet, the governor of one of the Russian regions affected by the raids of these corps has announced the mass evacuation of children from the area.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, announced on March 19 that some 9,000 children will be evacuated from the city of Belgorod and other settlements in the area as the shelling continues.
The Freedom of Russia Legion, the Siberian Battalion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) – armed units made up of Russian citizens opposing the war in Ukraine – have been carrying out attacks in Belgorod and the Kursk region since March 13.
Gladkov claimed a total of 16 people have been killed and 98 wounded this week. The strikes have also caused damage to buildings and infrastructures in Belgorod and forced the closure of shops and schools.
The anti-Putin units claimed last week to have captured the Kozinka village and on March 17 shared pictures on messaging platform Telegram showing their raised flags in the village.
The RDK also published a video which seemingly showed one of its members firing at a Russian armoured vehicle in the area.
Most recently, on Tuesday, the Freedom of Russia Legion claimed to be operating in the village of Zhuravlevka and “regularly leaving Putin’s troops without surveillance and communication systems on the battlefield”.
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed its forces shot down what it described as nine Ukrainian shells over Belgorod on Tuesday alone, and said they had destroyed two groups of “saboteurs” near the border with Belgorod and Kursk.
Ukrainian villages are also being affected by the border skirmishes. At the weekend, authorities in the Sumy region in north-eastern Ukraine said more than 150 had been forced to flee following intensified shelling.
Yuriy Zarko, mayor of the Bilopil village in the region, suggested the situation remained dire on Tuesday, as he claimed a “critical infrastructure object” had been hit as well as houses of residents.
Despite reports from the border area, Putin claimed on Tuesday the raids were a failure.
As reported by state news agency TASS, he claimed: “All attempts to break into our territory by sabotage and terrorist gangs consisting of regular enemy units, foreign mercenaries… and all kinds of s***… all these attempts failed.”
Just days after he secured at least six more years in power, the Russian President also claimed that the groups “planned to stage a real terrorist raid” on the cities and towns of the Belgorod and Kursk regions on the border, but were met with gunfire and “suffered heavy losses, including armoured vehicles and artillery”.
