Russian pro-Ukraine volunteers attack regions in Russia

Photo: Genya Savilov Agence France-Presse Ukrainian soldiers train with a drone on February 23 in the kyiv region.

Stanislav Doshchitsyn – Agence France-Presse to kyiv

7:28 p.m.

• Europe

Moscow claimed on Tuesday to have “repulsed” armed incursions carried out on its territory by pro-Ukraine Russian fighters which left one dead, while a Russian strike on the Ukrainian town of Kryvyï Rig killed at least three people, according to Ukrainian authorities.

This Russian strike which hit an apartment building in Kryvyï Rig (center), hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also left 44 injured, including children, according to Sergiy Lisak, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk province.

“Eight people are in serious condition, including three children, including a 4-year-old boy,” he detailed.

On the diplomatic front, the United States announced Tuesday new military aid of $300 million to Ukraine, a far cry from the large envelope requested by President Biden, still blocked in Congress .

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Receiving Polish President and Prime Minister Andrzej Duda and Donald Tusk at the White House, Joe Biden once again insisted on the need to strengthen support for kyiv.

“We must act before it is literally too late. Because as Poland may remember, Russia will not stop at Ukraine,” declared the American president.

On Tuesday morning, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, fighters from Ukraine attempted to enter the border regions of Belgorod and Kursk, equipped with tanks and armored vehicles and after “intensive shelling » during the night.

This offensive comes three days before the start of the Russian presidential election, which should see Vladimir Putin triumph in the absence of any opposition.

“Thanks to the self-sacrifice of the Russian military, all attacks by Ukrainian terrorist groups were repelled,” the Russian ministry said.

A member of the territorial defense was, however, killed and ten civilians injured on Tuesday in the incursion into the Belgorod region, its governor announced.

“Ten civilians were injured, six of them are hospitalized […], one member of our territorial defense died,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

Moscow, which claims to have inflicted heavy losses on its adversary, claimed to have “repulsed” an attack by saboteurs from Ukraine on the border village of Tiotkino, in the Kursk region.< /p>

The capture of this village had been claimed a few hours earlier on Telegram by fighters from a pro-Ukraine unit called “Russian Freedom Legion”, behind previous armed incursions.

These fighters, who say they are Russian, announced in the morning that they had crossed the border from Ukraine, publishing a video in which we can see three armored vehicles driving in the dark on a country road.

The unit claimed to have “destroyed” a Russian armored vehicle in Tiotkino and that Moscow forces had “quickly left” the village, leaving heavy weapons behind.

Energy deposits on fire

Regional authorities, however, ordered the closure of schools in the city of Kursk “due to recent events,” said Mayor Igor Koutsak.

This armed incursion comes after a major Ukrainian drone attack in Russia during the night from Monday to Tuesday, notably on two energy sites which were ravaged by fires, one of which was hundreds of kilometers from the front.

A drone also crashed during the day on the town hall of Belgorod, a town near Ukraine that is regularly targeted, and another on the roof of a shopping center, without causing any casualties, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Faced with daily bombardments for more than two years, kyiv regularly responds by striking border regions using artillery or drones. Land incursions are rare.

According to the Russian authorities, Ukrainian drones notably targeted Orel, in the region of the same name, and Kstovo (Nizhni-Novgorod region), two Russian cities located respectively 160 and 800 km from the Ukrainian border, setting fire to energy depots there. .

Village captured in the East

On the front in Ukraine, Russian forces claimed to continue their advance with the capture of the village of Nevelské, in the east, near the city of Donetsk which is already under Russian control.< /p>

This claim comes the day after optimistic remarks from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who assured that his soldiers had “stopped” the Russian advance.

The Ukrainian navy for its part claimed Tuesday the destruction of a Russian “command post” installed on an oil tanker stranded on the Kinbourn Isthmus, in the Black Sea, near the river estuary Dnipro.

Russian forces have been gaining ground for weeks in eastern Ukraine, notably with the fall of the fortress town of Avdiïvka in mid-February.

kyiv also received several signs of support on Tuesday in Europe with a vote in the French National Assembly in favor of an agreement signed between Paris and Kiev, and declarations from the Lithuanian president.

“All options regarding our support for Ukraine must remain on the table,” Gitanas Nauseda said during a visit to Paris.