Russia’s Belgorod experiences cross border raid from Ukraine
Russian volunteers manning one of the foreign legion forces conducted a raid into border towns in Belgorod. One of the side effects of this action involved the need to move additional reserves from the frontline to Belgorod. The Russians initially expected to do this movement mainly for Bakhmut to counter Ukrainian operations on the flanks. Many of the troops being relocated were subject to Ukrainian strikes, complicating Russia’s challenges related to enforcing Belgorod and Bakhmut areas while trying to continue to hold their currently controlled positions.
From Al Jazeera:
Ukraine says it plans to conduct a major counteroffensive to seize back occupied territory, but Russia has built sprawling fortifications in its neighbour’s east and south in readiness.
“The Ukrainians are trying to pull the Russians in different directions to open up gaps. The Russians are forced to send reinforcements,” said Neil Melvin, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute.
“They’ll have to respond to this and put troops there and then have lots of troops all along the border area — even though that may not be the way the Ukrainians are coming.”
Russia’s military said on Tuesday it routed fighters who attacked Belgorod with armoured vehicles, killing more than 70 “Ukrainian nationalists” and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.
Russians in the area expressed surprise at the severity of the attack. One woman was confirmed killed and nine civilians were wounded, some seriously, Belogrod’s Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
“First guns, then mortars, and then machine guns. It was full-on fighting,” one unidentified resident told local media.
Gladkov said on Wednesday the territory was targeted by numerous drone strikes following the incursions.
“The night was not entirely calm. There were a large number of drone attacks. Air defence systems handled most of them,” Gladkov said on social media. “The most important thing is that there are no casualties.”
Kyiv has said the attack was carried out by Russian citizens, casting it as home-grown, internal Russian strife. Two groups operating in Ukraine — the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Freedom of Russia Legion — have claimed responsibility.
Al Jazeera has more information here.
Again, my sympathy lies with the innocent people who are caught up in this madness. I Thank God that we were able to get some of our own people out of there in time.
Most were killed and several American MRAPs were captured by the Russians. Is this really the road NATO wants to go down?
The point of no return is coming
From Commieanada’s Civil Defence(sic) League:
I just wish they’d put a modicum of effort into peace.
Russia first captured army MRAPs & Humvees back in 2014 from the Ukraine, during the staged “revolt”. So this isn’t exactly new.
During the war with Georgia, Russian soldiers exchanged their body armor for that of defeated Georgians, that was US made.
The idea that most of them were “killed” is nonsense Russian propaganda. The Russians were caught with their pants down. Video showed that these folks were able to move around, with impunity, and then withdrew as they planned to withdraw, drawing the Russians after them as other elements pushed into Belgorod.
This was only a temporary planned event, as they forced the Russians to place their reserves at an additional location. However, official Russian sources claim about 70 killed. According to the Freedom of Russia Legion and Russian Volunteer Corps, they lost no personal and they lost no equipment.
The Russians kept telling their population that “many were killed” and that “it was all over,” just to have local residents upload videos on Telegram showing that the fight was still ongoing. They conducted preparatory fire prior to them going in, yet it did not raise suspicion on the Russian side that they were about to suffer an incursion.
Russian media makes CNN look like Fox News in comparison. If I had a choice between believing what the Russians say, or drinking tap water in Cartagena, Colombia, I would be drinking tap water in Cartagena like a fish.
Recently, the Russians denied that a water drone attack hit their ship. They claimed they shot all the drones. However, the next day, the Ukrainian government released footage from one of the waterborne drones going right up to the Russian ship. The ship that they claimed was the targeted ship, pulling into port, was actually another ship.
You are all over the place desperately. Even pulling in a recent Ukrainian sea drone attack on a Russian ship.
The Russian ship was just NE of the Bosporus straights. a protected economic zone of Turkey, protecting undersea gas pipelines of Turkey and shipments of Ukrainian grain.
So I am going to ask you again.
DOES NATO REALLY WANT TO GO THERE?
Sadly, the answer seems to be “Yes!”. The US, of course, is expected to “walk point”.
Wrong, not all over the place but dead center mass with what I just mentioned. I’ve been following the events happening in Ukraine, religiously, since the Russians tried to take the rest of Ukraine. Included among my information sources are video segments uploaded by the very personnel involved with the operations in that country.
You, on the other hand, are repeating Russian propaganda. No, The Russian ship was not “NE of the Bosporus straights, but operating close to Crimea. This is the extent, and reach, of Ukrainian sea drones. They have neither deployed air or sea drones well beyond what is properly Ukraine’s, and they’ve been launching these assets from the Vicinity of Odessa.
Not only is your question a strawman question, it is based on an invalid argument. Your lack of knowledge on this topic is painfully obvious.
However, I followed the Soviet Afghanistan War back in the 1980s. I’m seeing similarities between what happened then, and our support provided via Pakistan to select Afghani groups, together with the immediate and long-range impact of such support. The Russians did not learn that lesson, are repeating that same lesson, and risk repeating the same outcome.
I’m all for continuing our support for Ukraine, like what we have been doing, especially if it means that the risk increases that the Russian Federation disintegrates into multiple countries. Their incompetent actions before the incursion, during the incursion, and after the incursion, exposed their weakness real wide. If I were Putin and his co thugs, I would be worried… About what the Russians would do in the future.
Make no mistake, the Russian government was never our friend nor “strategic partner.” Better that the Ukrainians facilitate their downfall than to have our troops come to blows with them in the future. Both China and Russia want to reestablish the world order in their image. Historically, that came with bloodshed.
Democrats for ya:
Realistic Russky recruiting ad: