Moscow on Monday said that its troops were battling a Ukrainian “sabotage” group that infiltrated the southern Russian region of Belgorod, as locals fled the latest bout of fighting in the troubled territory.
In a first since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Russian authorities introduced an “anti-terror regime” in Belgorod.
Since the start of the war, the region bordering Ukraine has been repeatedly shelled in attacks that have killed dozens of people, and the region’s main city was struck last month by a Russian fighter jet that dropped ammunition over Belgorod by accident.
Photo: AP
In the latest incursion, members of a “sabotage” group crossed over from Ukraine, Russian authorities said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been notified.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said eight people had been injured, adding that authorities were helping people leave the scene of the fighting.
The announcement came as Russian forces pummeled the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro with missiles and drones overnight.
“The situation here continues to be extremely tense,” Gladkov said, adding that authorities were going door to door to notify local residents. “Most of the population left the territory. I hope that our military will complete their task in the nearest future.”
The “anti-terror regime” introduced in the southern region gives special powers to security services, and entails the enforcement of a number of restrictions and measures including beefed-up security and communications surveillance. A similar regime was in place in Chechnya between 1999 and 2009, when Russian authorities battled insurgents during Moscow’s second military campaign in the mountainous region.
Members of the anti-Kremlin Freedom of Russia Legion claimed responsibility for the incursion into Belgorod.
In a video released by a Telegram channel claiming to represent the group, a camouflaged spokesman, surrounded by armed men in fatigues, said: “Russia will be free” — a slogan frequently used by Russian opposition activists.
“We want our children to grow up in peace and be free,” the spokesman added, with the channel claiming that two settlements had been attacked.
Kyiv denied involvement.
“Ukraine is watching the events in Russia’s Belgorod region with interest and is studying the situation, but has nothing to do with it,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak said.
Podolyak said that Russian “guerrilla groups” could be responsible.
“The only driving political force in a totalitarian country of tightened screws is always an armed guerrilla movement,” he said.
Ukraine’s army earlier on Monday said that Russian forces pummeled Dnipro with 16 missiles and 20 attack drones overnight.
In the southern Kherson region, a 45-year-old man died when a shell fragment hit him in the heart, officials said.
Two people also died in Russian attacks on the region of Donetsk over the past day, officials said.
Following the attacks on Dnipro, Ukrainian authorities said that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant went offline for several hours.
Ukraine’s nuclear agency said it was the seventh time the plant entered “blackout mode” since Moscow’s troops took control in March last year.
Kyiv later said that despite the morning attack, Ukraine’s energy system was operating in a “stable fashion” and that there was enough electricity to “cover the needs of consumers.”
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS