The victims would be secret agents. Militias clash with Ukrainian forces.
• Photo: ROMAN BALUK/Reuters
War Wrecks in Lviv
Russian nationalist fighters fighting alongside Ukrainian forces said they killed two Russian intelligence agents during an incursion into Russian territory on Tuesday.
The Russian Volunteer Force, which has been carrying out armed incursions into the Russian Federation, said the operation took place in the Bryansk region along the border with northern Ukraine.
Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomas said on Monday night that Russian military and Federal Security Service (FSB) troops foiled a sabotage attempt by Ukrainian secret services on the Russian border.
The governor’s version was denied by the militants in a statement on social networks cited by the Spanish agency EFE, in which, ironically, he saluted the FSB for “another successful operation”.
The group added that the two alleged Russian agents were shot dead by militants and not shot down by the Ukrainian sabotage group mentioned by the Bryansk governor.
In recent months, Russian authorities have condemned several sabotage attempts, which they attribute to Ukrainian forces, in the Russian regions bordering Ukraine, in Belgorod and Bryansk, in which several civilians died.
Another militia of Russian exiles, the Russian Volunteer Army and the Legion of Freedom, carried out the worst action on March 22 and 23, when they took control of several locations in Belgorod for several hours.
Although Kiev says it has nothing to do with these operations, both organizations use equipment from the Ukrainian military, sometimes Western-made.
According to EFE, both fighters are authorized to carry out these attacks from Ukrainian territory.
Information released by Ukraine and Russia in the course of the war launched by Moscow on February 24, 2022 could not be immediately verified by independent sources.
Ukraine has been receiving arms from Western allies, who have imposed sanctions on Moscow to try to limit its ability to finance the war effort.
The number of civilian and military casualties in the conflict is not officially known, but many sources, including the UN, agree it could be higher.