The Russian defense ministry said on Tuesday afternoon that armed militias that crossed the Ukraine-Russia border on Monday and attacked small towns in Russia’s Belgorod region had been pushed back and defeated. Russia claims they were Ukrainian militias, but the attacks were claimed by two militias of Russian fighters opposed to Vladimir Putin’s rule: the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Free Russian Legion, both based in Ukraine.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence he said to the Russian news agency TASS that the militias were “blocked and defeated by air strikes and artillery fire”, first being pushed back and sent back across the Ukrainian border, and then “beaten until they were completely eliminated”. The Russian Defense Ministry says at least 70 militia members were killed and several of their combat vehicles destroyed.
On Monday, one of the two groups, the Free Russian Legion, had published a video on Telegram announcing that it had completely “liberated” the rural village of Kozinka (population 1,000) close to the Ukrainian border and was heading towards a center a little ‘ largest, Graivoron (6,000 inhabitants). The Russian authorities had responded by sending the army and promising to “destroy” the militias. Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov on Tuesday accused the two groups of killing at least one civilian, a resident of Kozinka.