Russia ‘kills 234 Ukrainian soldiers during thwarted incursion attempt’

Russia claims it also destroyed Ukrainian tanks and armoured vehicles (Picture: Reuters)

Russia claims its military has killed 234 Ukrainian fighters during an attempted incursion across its border.

The Russian Defence Ministry blamed the attack on the ‘Kyiv regime’ and ‘Ukraine’s terrorist formations’ amid fighting in the Kursk and Belgorod regions of Russia.

The Kremlin also claimed Ukraine lost seven tanks and five armoured vehicles – but details of today’s cross-border attacks are murky as they are often subject to claims and counterclaims, disinformation, and propaganda.

Russia insisted its military and border forces were able to stop the Ukrainian attackers and prevent a cross-border raid.

Soldiers from the Freedom of Russia Legion, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Siberian Battalion, who Kyiv officials say are Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine, claimed to have crossed the border and ‘taken control’ of a Russian town.

The groups shared statements and videos on social media claiming to show them in Russian territory as they called for ‘a Russia liberated from Putin’s dictatorship’ – though the authenticity of these videos couldn’t be independently verified.

Russia says Ukrainian forces crossed the border into its Kursk and Belgorod regions (Picture: Reuters)

Russia claims this is a destroyed Ukrainian tank (Picture: Reuters)

They say the Ukrainian forces were pushed back (Picture: Reuters)

Roman Starovoit, governor of Russia’s Kursk region, claimed Ukrainian fighters were trying to reach the village of Tetkino, which is close to the border.

In a message on Telegram he said: ‘There was an attempt by a sabotage and reconnaissance group to break through.

‘There was a shooting battle, but there was no breakthrough.’

The Russian Defence Ministry said the Tetkino attacks were driven back, but provided no further details.

It also said Ukrainian fighters made at least four attempts to cross into the Belgorod region but all attacks were repelled by warplanes, artillery and missiles.

A representative of Ukraine’s intelligence agency, Andrii Yusov, told Ukrainska Pravda that the military groups are made up of Russian citizens.

‘On the territory of the Russian Federation, they operate completely autonomously and independently,’ he said.

Kyiv has staged increasingly bold attacks behind 930-mile front line running through eastern and southern Ukraine, while increasingly deploying sea drones in the Black Sea, where it claims to have sunk Russian warships.

Ukraine’s forces are hoping for more military supplies from other Western countries, but in the meantime are struggling against a bigger and better-provisioned Russian army that is pressing hard at certain frontline points inside Ukraine.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said recent Russian advances have been halted, and the battlefield situation is now significantly better than in the past three months.

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