What is happening in the Belgorod region

In the Belgorod region, the “counter-terrorist operation” continues against the armed groups that penetrated the territory of this region a day earlier.

The regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote today in his Telegram channel:

“About the situation in the Grayvoron district. The Ministry of Defense is cleaning up the territory together with the security forces. But it’s not worth returning to your homes yet.”

According to the governor, there are no dead among civilians, but there are two wounded, whom the Russian security forces could not reach. According to Russian authorities, writes Air Force, an armed group crossed the border from the territory of Ukraine into the Belgorod region of Russia, and several people were injured during the clashes there. A spokesman for Vladimir Putin said that the President of the Russian Federation had been informed.

On the morning of May 22, Ukrainian telegram channels, as our publication reported, reported about the start of the attack units from among the Russians fighting for Ukraine to the territory of the Gaivoronsky district of the Belgorod region. In the public pages of the “Russian Volunteer Corps” and the “Freedom of Russia” legion, there were posts calling on the inhabitants of the Russian border to “stay at home and not resist.” Later, Ukrainian sources reported that there was a battle at the Grayvoron checkpoint in the village of Kozinka, which borders Ukraine in the Sumy region, writes Edition “Country”. Then this was confirmed by the Russian side. There was also a video.

According to Russian publics, Ukrainian armored vehicles entered the Grayvoron checkpoint, consisting of a T-72 tank, two HMMWV units, a Cougar and a KrAZ. The border guards, according to them, retreated to “previously equipped defense lines.” Ukraine denied responsibility and said Russian citizens from two paramilitaries were behind the invasion.

Meanwhile, the Free Russia legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps claimed to have taken control of Kozinka. But they did not publish any evidence of this – like flags on the administration or convincing videos from the village. Russian oppositionist Ilya Ponomarev, in a commentary to Strana, confirmed that the Free Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps are conducting reconnaissance in force in the Belgorod Region:

“The first joint operation of the Legion and the RDK is underway. Now they are attacking Belgorod. At the moment, there is a battle near Grayvoron. The purpose of the operation is reconnaissance in force, but maybe they will go far.”

Events, meanwhile, developed rapidly, the raid spread, judging by the data of regional telegram channels, to neighboring settlements. Local residents reported that in the area of ​​​​Kozinka, Gory-Podil and Glotovo there is a battle, and evacuation is underway from the first settlement. From the posts of the Belgorod residents, it followed that the “Ukrainian DRG” was in the House of Culture in the village of Gora-Podil (northeast of Kozinka), and the Russian military was firing at it. Russian helicopters were seen over the area.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Belgorod Region introduced the Edelweiss plan yesterday, and a general gathering of employees in all police departments of the region was announced. As of 16:50, the deputy head of the administration of the city of Grayvoron was wounded, and two employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were also injured, Russian media reported.

The Freedom of Russia Legion, a Ukraine-based Russian militia that claims to be working inside Russia to topple President Vladimir Putin, tweeted Monday that it had “completely liberated” the border town of Kozinka. It said that the advance units had reached the city of Grayvoron, further east, writes Air Force. However, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that efforts were underway to eliminate the sabotage group and said its goal was to draw attention away from the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, which a group of Russian mercenaries had taken control of after months of violent and bloody battles. Peskov said:

“We perfectly understand the purpose of such sabotage – to divert attention from the Bakhmut direction, to minimize the political effect of the loss of Artemovsk [Бахмута] Ukrainian side.”

In the Belgorod region of Russia, the introduction of a counter-terrorist operation regime was announced, the governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov said:

“In order to ensure the safety of citizens in the Belgorod region, a legal regime for the counter-terrorist operation has been introduced today, which establishes special measures and temporary restrictions.”

He explained that during the CTO they can check the documents of individuals, as well as suspend the activities of hazardous industries and organizations that use explosive, radioactive, chemically and biologically hazardous substances. Today, May 23, Gladkov announced:

“About the situation in the Grayvoron district. The Ministry of Defense is cleaning up the territory together with the security agencies. But it’s not worth returning to your homes yet. All the necessary actions are being taken by the security agencies. We are waiting for the completion of the counter-terrorist operation, which was announced yesterday.”

Ukraine has officially recognized these events. But, judging by the comments, he distances himself from them, saying that the attack is being carried out by Russian volunteers independent of Kyiv. The President’s Office said that Ukraine “has no direct relationship” to what is happening in the Belgorod region. This approach is quite understandable – signals from the West have repeatedly sounded that they do not approve of attacks on Russian territory within the 1991 borders. And therefore, Ukraine presents this as the actions of “Russian partisans”, and therefore – “Russia’s internal affair.”

By the way, last time, during the “Bryansk raid”, the Ukrainian leadership supported the same line as now: the Russians themselves entered the territory of the Russian Federation, who want to overthrow the Putin regime. And Ukraine has nothing to do with it. However, at the same time, Kapustin directly denied this, saying in an interview with the Financial Times that the raid was carried out in agreement with the Ukrainian authorities. And it is unlikely that without the direct support of Ukraine, including fire support, the provision of armored vehicles and intelligence, the current breakthrough could have been made.

It is also noteworthy that the raid was carried out not from the Kharkiv region (the border with which the Russians were actively strengthening), but from the Sumy region. Probably fewer Russian troops were based here, which Ukrainian intelligence found. And therefore, it was here that a breakthrough was made, and the Russian Federation was forced to transfer units from other areas. And during this time, the group that broke through managed to go far enough.

What are the goals of the raid? Ukraine has already expressed its position – Russian volunteers are helping Ukraine build a “security zone” in order to move Russian weapons away from Ukrainian borders and reduce the effectiveness of Russian shelling. They themselves say that this is the beginning of a “revolt against Putin.”

This attack fits so far more under the criterion of “psychic” – it does not provide any significant military advantages. But it creates for the Russian viewer a picture of the “dashing” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In fact, all the recent events in Russia related to the strike of drones on the Kremlin or oil depots work for the same effect: they have little or no impact on the situation at the front, but they shake nerves and give rise to questions.

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