Russia’s border regions with Ukraine face multiple threats, according to British defense officials, after self-described Russian partisan forces clashed with security forces in Belgorod oblast, whose main city was reportedly targeted overnight by drones.
Video shared on social media showed explosions that reportedly targeted the Federal Security Bureau (FSB) and the Internal Affairs Ministry buildings in Belgorod. It follows claims by the Freedom of Russia Legion, which seeks to overthrow Vladimir Putin, that it had overrun the Belgorod settlement of Kozinka and sent units into the town of Grayvoron.
Ukrainian officials have denied any direct involvement in the skirmishes, noting that the groups are made up of Russian citizens. However, one expert told Newsweek that the incursion “fits hand in glove” with Ukraine’s counteroffensive plans.
Screen grab via Twitter
The U.K.’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) said there had been clashes between Russian security forces and partisans in at least three places within the Belgorod oblast between last Friday and Monday.
Russian anti-government units that have declared they are fighting on Ukraine’s side— the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom for Russia Legion—have claimed responsibility.
Footage of a raid, purportedly from a border checkpoint in the town of Grayvoron, showed casualties including a Russian officer lying down in a pool of blood and armored vehicles appearing to drive through the post. There were also reports of small arms fire fights and an increase in drone or indirect fire attacks.
Belgorod governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram that drones had been shot down by air defenses over Belgorod city and elsewhere in the oblast. He announced the start of a counterterrorism operation, adding that evacuations of several villages were underway and no civilians had been killed. Russia has deployed extra security forces to the area.
“Russia is facing an increasingly serious multi-domain security threat in its border regions, with losses of combat aircraft, improvised explosive device attacks on rail lines, and now direct partisan action,” the British MOD said in an update on Tuesday.
“Russia will almost certainly use these incidents to support the official narrative that it is the victim in the war,” the statement added.
Advisor to the Head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine has “no direct relation” to the situation and that armed anti-regime Russian partisan movements are inevitable against the backdrop of the war.
However, Stephen Horrell, non-resident senior fellow of Transatlantic Defense and Security at the Center for European Policy Analysis said that even if Ukrainian security services’ support for the groups is minimal, “this fits hand in glove with the shaping operations necessary to make Ukraine’s counter-offensive successful.”
“The declaration of a Belgorod People’s Republic seeking separation from Putin and Moscow is a pitch-perfect echo of the Russian-led faux separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk nine years ago.”
Horrell noted the city has logistics hubs and has been a source of Russian strikes. “This goes along with other deep strikes we are starting to see,” he told Newsweek. “This also seems more substantial than other strikes or raids across the border—taking and holding multiple villages, the weight of effort with combat vehicles and such.
“The more places Russia has to worry about and devote troops to, the more likely a breakthrough at one or more counter-offensive sites.”