Ukrainian saboteurs have attacked Russia’s Belgorod region, the region’s governor claimed on May 22, leaving three people injured and causing significant material damage.
The government in Kyiv, for its part, denies complicity in the attack, attributing it instead to “violent resistance movements” that are opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
One of Russia’s westernmost regions, Belgorod shares a roughly 540-mile-long border with Ukraine.
Kremlin: Diversion From Bakhmut
Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod’s regional governor, said the attack began with an artillery barrage on the village of Glotovo in Belgorod’s Grayvoron district.Speaking on Telegram, Gladkov claimed that three local residents had been injured in the attack, which also damaged an administrative building and several private homes.
Gladkov blamed the incident on a “Ukrainian subversive/reconnaissance group” and said a full-fledged counter-terrorism operation had since been initiated in the area.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin was being briefed on developments as they unfolded.
“The Defense Ministry, the FSB [Federal Security Service], and the Border Service have reported to the Russian president ... about a Ukrainian sabotage group’s attempt to break into the Belgorod region,” he was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency.
“Work is underway to drive the saboteurs from Russia and eliminate the group.
“There are enough forces and equipment on the ground to do that.”
Peskov said the attack in Belgorod was aimed at “diverting attention from the Bakhmut area and reducing the political impact of Ukraine’s loss of Artyomovsk [the Russian name for Bakhmut].”
On May 21, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its forces had “completed the liberation” of Bakhmut—a key transport hub—following nine months of intense ground fighting.
However, Kyiv has denied the assertion, insisting that its forces still maintain a tenuous foothold in the beleaguered city. Ukrainian officials also deny any involvement in the reported attack in Russia’s Belgorod region.
Reuters cited a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who attributed the attack to a “violent resistance movement” based inside Russia.
Hromadske, a Kyiv-based media outlet, cited Ukrainian military intelligence officials as saying two armed Russian opposition groups—the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps—were behind the attack.
In April 2022, Moscow accused Ukraine of staging a cross-border helicopter attack in Belgorod that destroyed a large fuel depot—an allegation denied by Kyiv.
Not the First Time
The latest incident in Russia’s Belgorod region isn’t without precedent.In early March, Russian authorities claimed to have repelled a similar attack in the country’s western Bryansk region, which also shares a border with Ukraine.
According to Russian media, at least one person was killed—and others were taken hostage—in that attack, which Moscow likewise blamed on “Ukrainian saboteurs.”
In a televised address, Putin described the incident in Bryansk as a “terrorist attack.”
“The attackers won’t achieve anything,” Putin declared at the time. “We will crush them.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, for his part, accused Russia of staging a “false provocation” in Bryansk.
“The story about a Ukrainian sabotage group in the Russian Federation is a classic deliberate provocation,” he said on Twitter.
Podolyak had also said that the Ukrainian military “doesn’t strike at Russian Federation territory.”
In the almost 15 months since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, there have been several attacks inside Russian territory.
In December 2022, three Russian airbases were targeted by drones of unknown origin, damaging aircraft and killing three servicemen. One of the targeted airbases—located deep inside Russian territory—is known to host long-range strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear payloads.
While Kyiv never claimed responsibility for those attacks, they were widely celebrated by Ukrainian military officials.
At the time, a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence had suggested that the airbase attacks had been staged by anti-Putin groups based in Russia.
More recently, Putin’s personal Kremlin residence was targeted by a pair of combat drones on May 2.
The Russian leader wasn’t at the Kremlin complex at the time of the attack, which failed to cause casualties or material damage.
Moscow blamed the incident on Kyiv and vowed to retaliate “in the manner, place, and time of its choosing.”
Until now, Kyiv has consistently denied responsibility for the Kremlin attack.
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kyiv and its Western allies decry the move as an unprovoked war of aggression.
Moscow says its “special military operation” is aimed at protecting Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine and halting NATO’s further eastward expansion.
