(Kyiv) The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, said on Sunday that “fighting” was underway in a Russian border village with pro-Ukraine Russian fighters, who claimed responsibility for attacks in the region .
“A sabotage group has arrived, there is fighting in Novaya Tavoljanka,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. “I hope they will all be destroyed.”
He added that the attackers, whom he described as Russian fighters engaged alongside Kyiv, had taken prisoners and offered an exchange.
“The only thing stopping me from negotiating with them is our men who are in their hands, maybe they are already dead…”, he said in this video message, actually seeming to say that for this reason he was ready to agree to negotiate.
He agreed to meet the pro-Russian fighters, but the latter, in messages posted on the Internet, assured at the end of the day that he had not come to meet them, which was to take place in the border area.
One of these groups, the “Freedom Legion for Russia”, has ensured that it transfers the prisoners it holds to the Ukrainian authorities, who regularly organize prisoner exchanges with the Russian forces.
This is the first time that a Russian official has admitted that Russian fighters have been captured on Russian territory itself, after more than 15 months of fighting on Ukrainian territory.
The announcement comes as border villages have been heavily shelled by Ukraine this week, forcing thousands to flee to Belgorod, the region’s major city.
“Ukrainian terrorists”
The Russian army then claimed to have repelled a “sabotage group made up of Ukrainian terrorists” who were trying to cross the border.
“The enemy was hit by our artillery. It dispersed and retreated,” the army said in a statement.
The fighting around Novaya Tavolzhanka follows an incursion by pro-Ukrainian forces into the Belgorod region last month, which forced Moscow to use its artillery and air force on its own soil.
The border violation was claimed by anti-Kremlin Russian nationalist groups.
Governor Gladkov had previously asked residents of the border district of Shebekino to flee their homes due to artillery fire.
Previously, nationalist groups released a video addressing the governor, the veracity of which could not be independently verified.
It shows three “prisoners” whom their captors describe as “mere soldiers sent by your leaders into this war”. One of them appears to have been injured and is on a drip in a hospital bed.
Ukraine has never claimed responsibility for the attacks on Russian soil, but presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said on Sunday that the situation in the border areas “should be seen as Russia’s future”.
In a sign that fighting has intensified in the region, Ukrainian authorities said Russian fire killed two women in the border town of Vovchansk on Sunday.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UKRAINE’S EMERGENCY MINISTRY VIA REUTERS
Rescuers help a man get out of a building hit by a missile.
“The Russians again shelled the city of Vovchansk,” the Kharkiv region prosecutor’s office said, adding, “Enemy strikes caused the deaths of two civilian women, ages 62 and 74.”
The attacks on the Belgorod region come as Kyiv says it is preparing a major counter-offensive against Russian forces, which has been announced as imminent for weeks.
In a video released on Sunday, the Ukrainian military appeared to call on soldiers to remain silent and said there would be no announcement about the start of the long-awaited offensive.
Girl killed
Near the Ukrainian town of Dnipro, 300 kilometers southwest of Belgorod, the body of a two-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble of a building hit by a Russian bombardment on a residential area.
Authorities said the girl’s mother, identified as Yelyzaveta Pryhodka, remains in intensive care. Authorities said 22 people were injured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said five children were injured in the strike.
In his daily address to the country, he said three boys aged 6, 11 and 15 were in hospital in “serious condition”.
In a tweet posted on Sunday, Zelensky said 500 Ukrainian children had died since the conflict began.
“Many of them could have become scholars, artists, sports champions and contributed to the history of Ukraine. They have been victims of enemy missiles and hatred,” he tweeted.
This week, Moscow intensified its air attacks. Kyiv also said a Russian strike hit an airfield in the center of the country overnight.