The US has backed away from a Russian incursion that, according to Moscow, resulted in the defeat of armed insurgents who crossed the border from Ukraine.
In one of the largest cross-border incursions since Russia invaded its neighbor last year, parts of the border region of Belgorod came under attack on Monday.
Later, images of abandoned or damaged Western military vehicles, notably Humvees built in the US, were made public by Russia.
The US stated that it did not “encourage or enable strikes inside of Russia”.
A spokeswoman for the state department admitted that claims of US-supplied weaponry being deployed were “circulating on social media and elsewhere,” but said that his nation was “skeptical at this time of the veracity of these reports.”
It is up to Ukraine to decide how to conduct this conflict, Matthew Miller remarked in a news briefing on Tuesday.
Belgorod villages close to the border were evacuated after being shelled. Insisting that the fighters were Ukrainian, Russia claims that 70 attackers were slain.
While two Russian paramilitary organizations opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin claim responsibility for the incursion, Kyiv denies any involvement.
Who are the fighters coming from Ukraine into Russia?
Moscow declared a counterterrorism operation in response to the raid on Monday, giving the government extra authority to stifle communication and public movement.
One of the paramilitary groups said it still controlled a “small, but our own piece of the Motherland” even after the restrictions were eased the following afternoon.
The governor of Belgorod reported that one citizen had died and numerous others had been hurt as a result of the violence.
Later, Vyacheslav Gladkov claimed on Tuesday night that a drone had just attacked Belgorod, dropping an explosive device and damaging a car.
There didn’t seem to be any fresh victims, he claimed, adding that the flying object had been shot down.
Although the BBC was able to confirm that a building used by Russia’s top security agency, the FSB, was among those hit during the fighting, the allegations made by the warring parties have not been independently verified. What caused the damage is unclear.
Russia’s defense ministry commented on the fighting in Belgorod and claimed that a “unit of the Ukrainian nationalist formation” had entered its territory to launch attacks.
In one of the images, a destroyed car had the Russian words “for Bakhmut” scrawled on the side. This looks to be a reference to the Ukrainian city that Russia claims to have recently taken over, a claim Kiev disputes.
The ministry asserted that artillery and airstrikes had killed scores of what it referred to as “Ukrainian terrorists” and had pushed the remaining fighters back to the Ukrainian border.
However, according to Ukrainian officials, the attackers were Russians from the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and the Liberty of Russia Legion.
The two paramilitary organizations’ social media statements appeared to corroborate their participation. Both parties also claimed that they were establishing “a demilitarized zone on the border with the Russian Federation, from which they will not be able to shell Ukraine” in statements to Ukraine’s official station Suspilne.
Leaders of the Western military alliance known as Nato are alarmed by any assaults on Russian territory, thus this development may or may not be good for Kiev.
Moscow might find the cross-border incursion embarrassing, and it might help Ukraine avoid looking bad by allegedly losing control of Bakhmut after months of brutal and violent combat.
It is also likely to be a component of Ukraine’s shaping efforts prior to its impending counteroffensive, which attempt to deter Russian soldiers from the southern region where Kyiv is anticipated to launch an attack.
However, the West is not likely to welcome this development.
Even if they were not utilized in this incident, Kyiv has received long-range weaponry from these nations with the restriction that they cannot be used to strike targets inside of Russia.
It is difficult to think that this raid was carried out without assistance from Ukrainian military intelligence, despite public denials from Kyiv.
It supports the Kremlin narrative that hostile forces backed by the West are threatening Russia’s own national security.
Reports that some of the participants have ties to far-right extremism are likely to support this narrative, supporting Moscow’s assertion that it is attempting to purge Ukraine of neo-Nazis.
