MOSCOW: The Russian military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who had attacked a Russian border region with armoured vehicles, killing more than 70 “Ukrainian nationalists” and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.
In what appeared to be one of the biggest incursions from Ukraine since the war began 15 months ago, two purported anti-Kremlin armed groups employing Russians based abroad said they were responsible for the attack in Russia’s Belgorod region.
The Moscow defence ministry, which blamed the Ukrainian authorities for the attack, said its forces had surrounded the enemy fighters and defeated them with “air strikes, artillery fire and active action by border units”.
It said over 70 Ukrainian fighters had been killed, and four armoured vehicles and five pick-up trucks destroyed.
“The remnants of the nationalists were pushed back to Ukrainian territory, where they continued to be hit by gunfire until they were completely eliminated,” it added.
One of the two groups the Russian Volunteer Corps appeared to confirm on social media that its forces had withdrawn saying: “One day we’ll come to stay.” Kyiv had said it was watching the situation but “has nothing to do with it”, as it did in March when one of the groups which Moscow said consisted of far-right Russian extremists managed by Ukraine.