View of the Russian city of Belgorod.Photo: iStock
A Ukrainian “sabotage group” is said to have entered the area around the Russian city of Belgorod. The Kremlin now wants to “expel and eliminate” this group again.
The Kremlin in Moscow has reported the incursion of a Ukrainian “sabotage group” into the Russian border region of Belgorod. The Defense Ministry, Russia’s domestic intelligence agency FSB and border guards informed President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, May 22. Work is underway to expel and eliminate this “sabotage group from Russian territory”.
Earlier, the governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that “a sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Ukrainian armed forces” had entered the region in southern Russia. The army and the FSB would “take the necessary steps to eliminate the enemy”. Gladkow initially did not give any further details.
According to Peskov, Ukraine’s actions serve to “distract” from the military situation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which Moscow has announced it has captured. Accordingly, the “act of sabotage” is intended to “minimise the effects of the Ukrainian loss of the city”. However, according to information from Kiev, Ukrainian forces are still controlling some parts of the city, which has been heavily contested for months, and the surrounding area and are attacking Russian positions in their suburbs in order to encircle the Russians. (AFP/mf)
A map of Ukraine.Photo: iStock
