Russian troops stop Ukrainian raid into border region – governor
The Russian military, together with border guards and the National Guard units have repelled an attempted incursion into the Bryansk Region, its governor, Aleksandr Bogomaz, said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday.
According to the governor, an “armed group” sought to cross Russia’s border with Ukraine near the village of Manev. Located right on the border, the small settlement has been abandoned for years.
The border guards, together with the military and the security forces, opened fire on the invaders and forced them to retreat, according to the statement. The size of the would-be incursion force as well as its potential losses remain unclear. Bogomaz has not reported any casualties on the Russian side.
The situation in the region remains stable and the border area is now controlled by the regional operations HQ, the governor said. Neither the Russian Defense Ministry, nor the Ukrainian military have commented on the incident so far.
The Bryansk Region, which borders Belarus in the west and Ukraine’s Chernigov and Sumy regions on the south, has been a frequent target of the Ukrainian drone attacks since the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Last week, the Russian air defenses destroyed more than 100 of the Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Bryansk Region as well as neighboring Kursk, Oryol and Belgorod Region and the Lipetsk Region located further to the east.
Ukraine routinely launches drone attacks deep into Russia, with raids targeting energy facilities and other civilian structures.
In early August, Kiev’s force also staged a major incursion into the neighboring Kursk Region, which also borders the Ukrainian Sumy Region in the south. The Ukrainian forces made some initial progress in the early days of the operation but were quickly contained by the Russian forces. Moscow’s troops have been gradually pushing the invading force away from the region ever since.
Over the nearly two months since the start of the incursion, the Russian military managed to win back more than a dozen of settlements close to the border. The total number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the operation has surpassed 20,000, according to the Russian Defense Ministry’s estimates.
