Russia’s Belgorod region was in difficult circumstances but was “under control,” the governor said Tuesday in response to reports that Ukrainian forces tried to break through the border.
Belgorod sits directly across the border from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and has been subject to repeated shelling and drone attacks by Kyiv’s forces throughout the two-and-a-half-year conflict.
Russian Telegram channel Mash, which has purported links to law enforcement, reported on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops were trying to breach the border near the Russian village of Nekhoteyevka.
“Information has emerged that the enemy is trying to break through the border of the Belgorod region,” Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
“According to the Russian defence ministry, the situation on the border remains difficult but under control,” he added.
He later posted a message saying Ukraine had launched shelling and drone attacks on at least three villages in the region, without commenting further on the reported incursion.
Russia’s border regions have been on high alert since Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk region three weeks ago, seizing dozens of villages in the biggest cross-border attack on Russia since World War II.
Russia said earlier this month it would send more troops to defend the Belgorod region, with authorities there having earlier declared a state of emergency due to Kyiv’s attacks.
