Russian armed group based in Ukraine claims attacks on Russia

Three Russian militia groups based in Ukraine have announced that they have entered Russia and are currently fighting with government forces there.

The Freedom Corps of Russia (FRL) and the Siberian Battalion (SB) posted videos purporting to show fighters in Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions.

The FRL and exiled Russian politicians claimed that the two villages were now under the control of the “Liberation Army.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the breakthrough attempt had been thwarted.

It claimed that more than 234 Ukrainian troops were killed and several tanks were destroyed.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said one member of the Russian Territorial Defense Forces was killed and 10 civilians were injured.

These figures have not yet been verified by the BBC.

Ukraine’s military denied involvement in Tuesday’s cross-border attack. Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the country’s military intelligence service, said the militia was an “independent organization” of the Russian people and therefore operated “in the country.”

In a separate development, Russia said Ukraine launched 25 drones at targets across Russia, but the attacks were thwarted.

However, a video has been released showing several Russian oil facilities on fire.

An Il-76 military transport plane carrying eight crew members and seven passengers crashed shortly after takeoff in the Ivanovo region, just east of Moscow, Russia’s state news agency reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense. .

The ministry said an engine fire was the cause of the accident. Details of the survivors have not been released.

A video has been released that purports to show the plane bursting into flames and circling through the sky, followed by black smoke billowing from the crash site.

At least three people were killed and 38 injured when Russian missiles struck two apartment buildings in central Ukraine’s Kryvy Rikh on Tuesday night, the interior minister said.

Ihor Klimenko said children were among the victims and the death toll could rise further as search and rescue operations continue.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country “will inflict damage on the Russian state in response, and that is natural.”

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin is now in its third year, and there are no signs that Europe’s biggest war since World War II will end anytime soon.

On Tuesday, FRL posted a video purportedly taken from the Russia-Ukraine border.

“Like all our compatriots, in the Corps we dream of a Russia free from Putin’s dictatorship. But we are not just dreaming. We are making every effort to make that dream come true. “We will take centimeter by centimeter of land from the regime,” an armed FRL soldier can be heard saying in the video.

Meanwhile, the SB stated that “heavy fighting is occurring on the territory of the Russian Federation,” and released footage purporting to show fighter jets engaging Russian government forces.

He also criticized Russia’s March 15-17 presidential election, which is widely expected to be won by Putin.

“Ballots and voting stations in this case are fictions. The only thing that can actually change your life for the better is to take up arms,” ​​the SB said.

Another Russian group based in Ukraine, the Russian Volunteer Forces (RDK), also released footage purporting to show its fighters engaging Kremlin forces.

“The Kremlin regime’s forces laid down their weapons without even starting a fight,” he said.

Video has not been independently verified.

The border village of Tetkino in the Kursk region appears to have been one of the targets of Tuesday’s attack, with the FRL claiming that “liberation forces” are now in full control of the settlement.

The BBC verified the authenticity of FRL footage depicting an attack on an armored personnel carrier in Tetkino.

Kursk Mayor Igor Kutsak ordered all schools in the regional capital to conduct remote classes from March 13 to 15 “in connection with recent events.”

He also warned that the city, which has a population of more than 400,000, remains on “missile alert.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine-based Russian opposition politician Ilya Ponomarev claimed that the border village of Rozovaya Rudka in Belgorod Oblast was “under the complete control of the Liberation Army.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement late Tuesday that Russian troops, along with border guards and FSB security forces, “thwarted an attempt by the Kiev regime to break into Russia.”

The newspaper said enemy fighters, supported by tanks and armored personnel carriers, attempted to invade Russia “simultaneously from three directions: the Odnolobovka, Nehoteyevka and Spodaryushino settlement areas of the Belgorod region.”

It added that four other attacks targeting Tetkino had been “repulsed”.

Russian armed groups based in Ukraine have carried out several cross-border attacks since the beginning of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine.