![](\"http:\/\/ch.jfdi.cc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/anti-kremlin-fighters-launch-cross-border-attacks-into-russia.jpg\")
Armed fighters purporting to be Russian citizens who oppose the Kremlin said they carried out cross-border incursions into western Russia from\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0using tanks on Tuesday, but Moscow said it had repelled the attacks.<\/p>\nArmed fighters purporting to be Russian citizens who oppose the Kremlin said they carried out cross-border incursions into western Russia from\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0using tanks on Tuesday, but Moscow said it had repelled the attacks.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u00a0said the groups were acting independently. But the border raids, carried out days before a\u00a0presidential election\u00a0in Russia and just over two years after Moscow\u2019s full-scale\u00a0invasion\u00a0of\u00a0Ukraine, were widely seen as backed by Kyiv.\u201cThis is only the first day (of the operation). But the elections, as we know, are only at the end of the week\u2026 All the most interesting things are yet to come,\u201d said Alexei Baranovsky, a spokesperson for the Freedom of Russia Legion.The group said it had taken full control of Tyotkino, a village on the edge of Russia\u2019s Kursk region bordering\u00a0Ukraine, and aired aerial footage, apparently shot by a drone, showing several soldiers running across a field.Baranovsky, speaking to Reuters on a Zoom call from an undisclosed location, said the bulk of the forces used in the operation were in the Kursk region.He said the attack could force Russia to pull in reserves to defend the area, relieving Russian offensive pressure on Ukrainian troops in eastern\u00a0Ukraine.\u201cWe are distracting the reserves, the attention of the Russian army. They are forced to transfer reserves.. this is also our contribution to the defence of\u00a0Ukraine,\u201d he said.The group said it had destroyed a Russian armoured personnel carrier and that the border incursions had been undertaken alongside two other\u00a0Ukraine-based groups \u2013 the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Siberian Battalion.Russia\u2019s TASS news agency cited the local governor as saying one person had been wounded by Ukrainian shelling in Tyotkino.The Russian defence ministry said it had beaten back the attackers and forced them to retreat.It said Ukrainian \u201cterrorist formations\u201d backed by tanks and armoured combat vehicles tried to invade in three separate directions in Russia\u2019s Belgorod region, which borders the Kursk region and\u00a0Ukraine, at about 3 a.m. Moscow time (0000 GMT).It said four more attacks by Ukrainian \u201csabotage and reconnaissance groups\u201d were repulsed around five hours later in the Kursk region.The Belgorod and Kursk regions were also attacked by Ukrainian drones in the afternoon and a drone crashed into the Belgorod city administration building, injuring two people, the regional governor said.LOOMING ELECTION<\/strong>Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield statements by either side.A spokesperson for\u00a0Ukraine\u2018s military intelligence agency said the groups were acting independently of\u00a0Ukraine, but Kyiv has never made clear how such groups have received advanced weapons and armoured vehicles.The Freedom of Russia legion and Russian Volunteer Corps have said they were behind other cross-border raids.Russian officials cast the groups as puppets of\u00a0Ukraine\u2018s military and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.Two of the units alluded to Russia\u2019s presidential\u00a0election\u00a0this weekend in social media posts.The Siberian Battalion posted a video which it said was an address to the Russian people from its fighters in Russia. In the video, a masked man in military uniform urged Russians to fight rather than vote.\u201cGuys, don\u2019t vote with ballots, vote with calibers (of guns),\u201d he said.The Freedom of Russia Legion\u2019s post also appeared to refer to the election, in which\u00a0Putin\u00a0is certain to win a fifth term.\u201cThe people will vote for whom they want, not for whom they have to. Russians will live freely,\u201d the legion said on Telegram.Follow the Armed fighters claiming to be Russian citizens opposed to the Kremlin conducted cross-border incursions into western Russia from Ukraine using tanks. Moscow reported repelling the attacks. The groups, acting independently according to Ukraine, aimed to distract Russian forces and relieve pressure on Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine. The Freedom of Russia Legion claimed control of Tyotkino, a village in Russia’s Kursk region. The attacks involved the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Siberian Battalion. Russia’s defense ministry stated it repelled the incursions and drone attacks in the Belgorod and Kursk regions. The incidents occurred days before Russia’s presidential election, with the groups hinting at opposition to the expected re-election of Putin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1599,652,383,1234,1240,1598,3,1232,1600,153,988,250,487,296,148,1394,1356,154,19,817,17,1180],"class_list":["post-3935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-armed-fighters","tag-army","tag-attack","tag-attacks","tag-clear","tag-cross-border-incursions","tag-cyprus","tag-drones","tag-election","tag-elections","tag-fight","tag-google","tag-incidents","tag-kyiv","tag-local","tag-man","tag-presidential-election","tag-putin","tag-russia","tag-social-media","tag-ukraine","tag-ukrainian"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n
\nCyprus Mail on Google News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"