War in Ukraine: Moscow blames Kyiv for a series of terrorist attacks in two Russian border regions

New incursions into these Russian border regions that have already been secretly invaded since the start of the war. Russia on Sunday blamed Ukraine for a series of attacks in the border areas of Bryansk and Belgorod that damaged five train cars and injured one.

The Investigative Committee announced the start of an investigation into the Ukrainian strike, which injured a civilian in a village almost adjacent to the Ukrainian border in the Bryansk region. However, he did not specify when the attack might have occurred. Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said drones and missiles targeted several areas of his region on Saturday, mostly without causing damage or casualties.

Multiplying Ukrainian strikes

However, in the town of Valuiki, about thirty kilometers from the border with Ukraine, “five carriages were damaged,” as well as three houses, he said. According to Vyacheslav Gladkov, power lines were also damaged, resulting in a temporary power outage. The Russian Ministry of Defense also said that at night and then at noon they destroyed two Ukrainian drones in the Belgorod region, preventing an attempted “terrorist attack.”

Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory have become more frequent in recent months in the context of a counteroffensive launched by Kiev in early June. Ukrainian authorities, for their part, said a Russian attack on Sunday in the southern region of Kherson killed a 64-year-old man whose wife was also injured. The strike also “caused serious damage” to the library, Governor Alexander Prokudin said.

Ukrainian military intelligence also said on Sunday that at least three Russian officers were killed the day before in an explosion at the “occupation headquarters” in Melitopol as a result of actions by “local resistance.” On Saturday, after “the explosion of the occupation headquarters, at least three officers of the Russian Guard were liquidated,” the department integrated into the Ministry of Defense said in a Telegram, adding that the “response action” was carried out by “representatives of the local resistance movement.”

AFP was unable to verify these claims. The occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol is important for the logistics of the Russian army. It was captured shortly after the Russian invasion began in February 2022. “The attack occurred during a meeting with officers of the FSB (Russian security service) and the Russian National Guard,” military intelligence said. “Information about additional enemy losses is being clarified,” they said, suggesting that losses could be higher.