Explosion rocks Belgorod as Russian war bloggers report more border clashes with pro-Ukraine forces

Clashes between Russian forces and pro-Ukraine fighters along the two countries’ border have reportedly broken out for the second time in just three days. According to pro-Kremlin “war correspondents” on Telegram, pro-Ukraine “saboteurs” tried to cross into Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions on Thursday morning but were repelled by Russian forces. In Belgorod city, residents reported an explosion just minutes after two Ukraine-aligned groups announced they planned to strike “military targets” in the area. Here’s what we know.

Update: Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported that two people were killed and 17 people were injured as a result of Thursday’s aerial attacks on the region.

A Ukrainian “sabotage and reconnaissance” group attempted to infiltrate Russia’s Belgorod region on Thursday, according to Russian pro-war blogger Alexander Kots and the Telegram channel Mash. Armed clashes have reportedly broken out near the Russian border village of Spodaryushino. 

Kots, citing a “direct participant” in the battle, wrote that Russian forces are repelling an attack on a Spodaryushino border post. “The enemy is 50 meters [164 feet] away and throwing grenades at us,” Kots quotes his source as saying. “Tanks and Bradleys are approaching, aviation and artillery systems are operating. In Kozinka, across from Velyka Pysarivka [in Ukraine], they’re trying to break through from there with armored vehicles.”

The Telegram channel Shot reported that a group of 30 “saboteurs” approached Spodaryushino from the direction of a village in Ukraine’s Sumy region. The channel said 12 “saboteurs” were killed and two Bradley infantry fighting vehicles were destroyed. The Telegram channel Baza wrote that people were not being allowed into the Spodaryushino area. 

The WarGonzo channel, a pro-Russian media project, also reported that there was an ongoing skirmish near Spodaryushino and that Russian military personnel and border guards were “destroying enemy personnel and equipment.” 

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The channel added that Russian military forces thwarted a nighttime attempt by the “saboteurs” to infiltrate territory near the village of Tetkino in Russia’s Kursk region. The region’s governor, Roman Starovoit, confirmed the overnight attack, saying that Russian forces “did not and will not allow the saboteurs” to enter Russian territory. 

Belgorod authorities and the Russian Defense Ministry have not commented on the reports of attempted incursions into the region. The Belgorod region’s operational headquarters only denied reports that they were seeking a vehicle with a Red Cross symbol, allegedly used by “Ukrainian saboteurs.”

Representatives of the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, two formations of Russian fighters supporting Ukraine that have previously crossed into Russian territory, did not report any incursions by its fighters into the border regions.

At least two people were reportedly killed in aerial attacks on the Belgorod region. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported that Russian air defense forces shot down 10 “aerial targets” attacking Belgorod on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. He said one person was killed and at least three people were injured by the resulting explosions and falling debris. Earlier, the governor reported that one person had been killed and six injured by an overnight drone attack.

Belgorod residents reported an explosion after pro-Ukraine fighters warned of coming strikes. At about 11:30 a.m. local time, the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps published Telegram posts warning residents that they would soon carry out strikes on military targets in Russia’s Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions. Local emergency officials declared a missile hazard. Several minutes after the warnings, residents reported an explosion in the center of Belgorod. According to Baza, the blast occurred near a train station.

The Russian authorities have not commented on the reported explosion.

The escalations marked the second wave of clashes between Russian forces and Ukraine-aligned fighters on the border this week. On Tuesday morning, multiple pro-Kremlin Telegram channels reported that “armed groups” supporting Ukraine had attempted to cross the border into villages in the Belgorod and Kursk regions. Russia’s Defense Ministry later reported, without providing evidence, that Russian troops killed 234 of the attackers. The Freedom of Russia Legion and the Siberian Battalion, another pro-Ukraine group made up of Russian fighters, claimed to have crossed into Russia territory, but journalists from Agentstvo later confirmed that at least one of the videos the groups offered as evidence was actually filmed in Ukraine.

Tuesday’s clashes were followed by more than 60 reported drone attacks in various Russian regions on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, including six in Belgorod. According to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, the drones damaged residential buildings, a gas supply line, and a power line in the region. The Russian state news agency TASS also reported that a drone crashed into the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) headquarters in the Belgorod region, but it later removed the story.