KYIV, Ukraine (Dispatches) — Russian troops and security forces quashed Tuesday an alleged cross-border raid from Ukraine, claiming to have killed more than 70 attackers in a battle that lasted around 24 hours, a senior Moscow official said.
Moscow blamed the raid on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv portrayed the incident as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It wasn’t immediately possible to reconcile the two versions.
The battle took place in the Belgorod region, about 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of the city of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed the armed attackers were routed by local troop units, airstrikes and artillery fire.
The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the raid targeted the rural area around the town of Graivoron, a town about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the border. Twelve civilians were wounded in the attack, he said, and an older woman died during the evacuation.
Earlier Tuesday, Gladkov urged residents who had evacuated to stay put and not return home until they received official instructions to do so. He said a “counterterrorism operation” was underway.
Russian territory and Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine have also been hit by drones and explosions that have derailed trains, though Kyiv officials brush off accusations of orchestrating them.
Russian dissidents unhappy about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies instigated the assault, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Tuesday.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, its top law enforcement agency, announced an investigation into alleged terrorism and attempted murder in connection with the incident.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the raid “elicits deep concerns,” and a “bigger effort” was required to prevent such attacks in the future.
Dmitry Medvedev, a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s powerful Security Council, said the attackers were “scumbags” who should be exterminated “like rats”.
“Responsibility ... is carried by the Kyiv regime, and ultimately by its sponsors overseas - that is, Washington and the countries of the European Union, along with affiliated states like Britain and others,” Medvedev said, according to TASS.
The former president warned that the more destructive the weapons that the West supplied to Ukraine, the higher the risk of “nuclear apocalypse”.
The United States has committed $37 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February last year.
U.S. President Joe Biden told fellow G7 leaders on Friday that he backed a joint effort with allies to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, according to a senior U.S. Administration official, though there is as yet no commitment to supply the jets themselves.
“The more destructive these weapons are, the more likely the scenario becomes of what is commonly called a nuclear apocalypse,” Medvedev said.