“NOT IN CONTROL”
Moscow also reported a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian border regions overnight and throughout Tuesday. In one statement it said it had shot down four Ukrainian drones over the Kursk region in the space of an hour.
Kursk Governor Roman Starovoyt said there had been a shoot-out in his region.
The neighbouring Belgorod region was also hit in a series of drone attacks on Tuesday – including a strike on Belgorod city hall, the regional governor said.
Officials in Kursk city said they were closing schools until the end of the week amid the spike in attacks.
Russia’s FSB security service said that since Sunday it had repelled a number of attempted cross-border attacks in the Belgorod and Kursk regions.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence, Andriy Yusov, said the fighters were not acting under orders from Kyiv.
But he said the attacks showed “the Kremlin is once again not in control of the situation in Russia.”
Ukraine-based militias – made up of Russian citizens who oppose Moscow’s invasion and have taken up arms for Kyiv – have claimed to be behind previous incursions into Russian territory.
The Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion said they took temporary control of several settlements in the Belgorod region in May and June 2023 in a string of raids after breaking through a border checkpoint.
In March last year, Russia launched a wave of retaliatory missile strikes on Ukraine after it said a sabotage group killed civilians in the Bryansk border region.
A spokesperson for the political wing of the Freedom of Russia Legion told AFP on Tuesday the latest attack was timed to coincide with Russia’s Mar 15-17 presidential elections.
“This is not an election at all. It is the next stage of a usurpation of power, the formation of Putin’s dictatorship under the guise of elections,” spokesman Alexei Baranovsky said.
MAJOR OIL REFINERY
Kyiv launched one of its most significant drone strikes on Russia so far in the two-year war.
Two Russian energy sites, including one of the largest oil refineries some 800 kilometres (500 miles) from the border, were hit overnight, Russian officials said.
