Military skirmishes were reported near Russia’s Terebreno village on the border with Ukraine, Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence wrote on Dec. 17.
“As a result of the attack carried out by opponents of the Kremlin regime in the Belgorod region, a platoon stronghold of Russian troops was destroyed,” the military intelligence, known as HUR, wrote.
Terebreno, Belgorod Oblast, is located 2 kilometers north of the border with Ukraine and is home to around 600 people.
Ukraine’s military intelligence didn’t reveal what forces fighting on Ukraine’s side were responsible for the attack, hinting that it could have been one of the Russian battalions employed by Kyiv.
Earlier, Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that fighting is ongoing in Terebreno.
“According to preliminary information, there is shooting on the border of the village,” Gladkov said. “There is damage to power lines in several villages.”
The Kyiv Independent couldn’t independently verify this information.
This isn’t the first time fighting occurs in Russia’s regions bordering Ukraine.
On May 22, a group of armed men calling themselves the Free Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps recorded videos saying they had crossed into Russia and taken hold of several villages.
The attacks on the villages continued for over a day, with the Russian Volunteer Corps, and its leader Denis Kapustin, holding a press conference not far from the border with Russia on May 24.
Despite promising further incursions into Russian territory, the attacks on bordering villages have been a rare occasion ever since.
Asami Terajima
