Russian official: Two drones targeted two towns in the west of the country during the night

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the city of Belgorod, on the border with Ukraine, was subjected to a new attempt to storm, in which the attacking forces used tanks and heavy vehicles. This is the second large-scale attack on the city during the last week, and a statement issued by the ministry stated that its forces, in cooperation with border guards and security forces, thwarted, on Thursday morning, “a new attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist act against civilians in the city of Shpekino in Belgorod.”

And the “Russian Defense” said in the statement that “at about three o’clock in the morning Moscow time, and after intense bombing of civilian targets in the Belgorod region, Ukrainian terrorist factions, numbering two motorized infantry companies reinforced with tanks, attempted to infiltrate Russia’s territory in the area of ​​​​the town of Novaya Tavolganka and the Shchebykino crossing.” International Motors.

The statement stated that the Russian forces repelled 3 attacks by the Ukrainian units, and the Western Military District’s aviation launched 11 strikes “on the enemy’s advance sites, while the missile and artillery forces carried out 77 fire missions, and heavy flamethrowers fired two strikes on the attacking forces.”

According to the statement, “as a result of the active measures taken by the Russian forces, the terrorist formations of the Kiev regime were forced to retreat after they suffered heavy losses.”

The Russian defense confirmed that the violation of the state borders had been prevented, and that “more than 30 Ukrainian terrorists were killed in the border area on the Ukrainian side, and 4 armored vehicles, a Grad rocket launcher and one pickup truck were destroyed.”

It was noted that in its statement, Moscow ignored the statements of the “Russian Legion”, which is active with the support of Ukraine and includes armed groups of Russians opposed to the war in Ukraine. This corps had claimed responsibility for the first Belgorod attack a few days earlier.

On Thursday, the Kremlin denounced what it considered the silence of the international community after the region was subjected to an attack, which Moscow blamed on Kiev. “The international community has every opportunity to watch video recordings and read materials describing strikes on residential buildings, social infrastructure, etc… There is not a single word critical of Kiev,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russia said it had evacuated hundreds of children from border villages as a result of the massive attacks. Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported that residents who had been evacuated from the town of Chebykino after heavy shelling were crowding into makeshift shelters in the regional capital. Peskov stressed that the attack “will not affect at all” the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.

Local authorities reported that 11 people were injured Thursday in the area. Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin receives information “continuously” about the situation in the region and deals “actively” with the issue of providing aid to civilians fleeing the fighting.

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Also in the field context, the commander of the Chechen Special Forces group «Ahmed», Apte Alaudinov, announced his forces’ readiness to launch an attack on a new sector of the front in Donetsk. He wrote on his channel on the “Telegram” application: “By order of the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces, (Ahmed’s) special forces were transferred to a new sector. Part of our forces and equipment remained in the old sector of Lugansk. One regiment has also been appointed under my command, two more regiments are being prepared, and we have begun to prepare for active offensive actions.”

According to him, Ahmed’s special forces are capable of performing any task assigned to them, pledging to make every effort “for the liberation of the Donetsk People’s Republic.”

This announcement comes after the withdrawal of the “Wagner” forces from the front lines of the battle, following their success in finally imposing full control over the city of Bakhmut. And the Chechen forces took their place on the lines of contact, and the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Thursday that the Chechen forces had made significant progress on some axes in the Donetsk region.

On the other hand, coinciding with the launch of the European Community summit in Moldova, Moscow warned of Western efforts to drag this country into direct involvement in the hostilities taking place in Ukraine. The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (Ministry) Alexander Bortnikov accused the West of actively inciting Moldova to get involved in the worsening conflict.

The Russian accusation carried the first direct reaction to the “European Community” summit, which kicked off in Moldova on Thursday. in the presence of about fifty European leaders; In a move aimed at supporting Chisinau positions in the face of the Kremlin.

Bortnikov said during a meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the CIS Member States with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that the West “is actively inciting Moldova to participate in the Ukraine war,” and added that Ukraine “has become a launching pad for the war against Russia and all subversive activities against it.” Belarus too.

Without referring directly to the enlarged European summit, the Russian security official said that Western incitement focused on pushing Moldova to solve the Pridnestrovian region problem through the use of military force.

Chisinau had called more than once during the recent period on Moscow to withdraw its forces from the separatist region, and expressed a desire to accelerate the process of joining the European Union and strengthen cooperation with NATO in order to confront Russian policies and the growing threats due to the war in neighboring Ukraine.

Earlier, Russian military officials did not hide that the issue of controlling the separatist Pridnistrovih region would be the target of the Russian military operation after the progress towards Odessa in western Ukraine was accomplished. But another military operation stumbled upon the implementation of this goal.

Russia has maintained “peacekeeping” forces in the region since 1992, when the region declared unilateral secession from Moldova with Russian support. The Moldovan government believes that the Russian presence encourages the separatist tendencies of the region’s residents, most of whom Moscow granted Russian citizenship during the past years.

With the escalation of the conflict between Russia and the West in Ukraine, the issue of the region’s secession re-emerged strongly, and several acts of provocation took place in the region, including the bombing of facilities, and Moscow and Chisinau exchanged accusations in this regard.

The launch of the second summit of the “European Community” came to send a strong Western message of support to Moldova in its increasingly heated confrontation with Russia.

Among the main topics discussed at the summit, in addition to the relationship between Moldova and Russia, are energy and security files and the situation in Ukraine. Talks are also expected to be held on the sidelines of the summit between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on mechanisms for a final settlement of the conflict in the Karabakh region. The summit is also expected to discuss the situation according to the announced plan. in Kosovo.

Russia and Belarus were not invited to attend the summit, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Moscow “is following the news from Chisinau, but it does not consider the political process complete without dialogue with Moscow.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was re-elected for a new term last Sunday, was absent from the summit, while Chisinau announced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Thursday morning to participate in its work and hold several bilateral meetings. The F-16 coalition” and a proposal to establish a “Patriot coalition,” referring to the types of effective weapons that Kiev is asking the West to provide it with.

The first summit of the “European Community” was held at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron in Prague in October of last year, and it bears this name because it includes, in addition to the countries belonging to the European Union, a wide number of the union’s partners, to become the largest European gathering that discusses issues. security and the growing challenges in and around the region.