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2 Mar 2023, 18:06

FACTBOX: What we know about the Ukrainian sabotage attack on Bryansk Region

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who cancelled his scheduled trip to Pyatigorsk, called the incursion an act of terrorism

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Ukrainian saboteurs infiltrated the border area of the Bryansk Region on Thursday morning, regional Governor Alexander Bogomaz said. According to the latest information, two civilians were killed and a child was wounded in an assault by the group of Ukrainian saboteurs.

According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), which carried out a security operation jointly with Defense Ministry troops to eliminate the border violators, the situation is now under the control of law enforcement agencies and mine clearance work is underway.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who cancelled his scheduled trip to Pyatigorsk, called the incursion an act of terrorism. TASS has assembled up-to-date material on what we currently know about the attack.

Circumstances of the attack

- Bryansk Region Governor Bogomaz reported that saboteurs had infiltrated the village of Lyubechane in the Klimovsky District, which borders on Ukraine. He said that the Ukrainian raiders had hit an automobile with gunfire, killing one person and wounding a child, born in 2012.

- As the governor stated, two more borderline settlements in the region were attacked: Sushany was hit by a Ukrainian drone while Lomakovka was shelled by mortars.

- Sources in defense circles told TASS that several dozen armed saboteurs attacked both Lyubechane and Sushany, which are located about 15 km from each other.

- The FSB reported that its security forces, in conjunction with "assigned Russian Defense Ministry troops," had launched "measures to eliminate the armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border."

- Subsequently, the FSB reported that the situation in the Klimovsky District "is under the control of law enforcement agencies." Mine clearance is underway as "a large volume of explosives of various types" had been discovered at the scene.

Casualties and injuries

- The regional authorities reported two deaths in the attack (i.e. the driver of the car that had been fired upon by the saboteurs, and another man born in 1966) as well as an injured child.

- The life of the injured boy, born in 2012, who suffered wounds from the assault in the village of Lyubechane, is not in danger. He was taken to the Bryansk Regional Hospital, the governor said.

- The boy underwent surgery with doctors removing a bullet from his body that had been fired from a NATO-standard weapon, he added.

- Security sources told TASS that as many as six people may have been abducted and held hostage by the Ukrainian saboteurs, but this information has not been officially confirmed.

- The saboteurs abducted a rural paramedic, who was held hostage and then released, a local resident told TASS.

Reaction

- Putin called the attack on the Bryansk Region "a new act of terror," stressing that the saboteurs had opened fire on civilians. He expressed certainty that "the puppet masters" of the Ukrainian nationalists would simply ignore this crime, and gave assurances that Russia’s enemies "will not succeed," adding that "we will crush them."

- The Russian president earlier cancelled his trip to Pyatigorsk and remained in the Kremlin, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said. The head of state is being briefed on the situation in the Bryansk Region by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Russian National Guard Director Viktor Zolotov, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov and Governor Bogomaz of the Bryansk Region.

- Peskov called the saboteurs’ raid on the Bryansk Region a terrorist attack, but declined to answer a question on whether this event may prompt a change in the status of the special military operation in Ukraine.

- The Kremlin also said that the Russian Security Council would convene for a regularly planned session on March 3. No emergency session on March 2 was anticipated.

- Chechen Republic Head Ramzan Kadyrov compared the Ukrainian saboteurs to the terrorists who were once active in Chechnya. He urged, in particular, to impose martial law in certain border regions of Russia while elevating the current medium response level to the highest level.

- In the wake of the incident, the Belarusian Border Guard Committee stated (given the proximity of Belarus’ Gomel Region to the Bryansk Region) that Minsk had sufficient forces to protect its border.

- An air raid alert was declared in the Sumy and Chernigov regions of Ukraine, which border on the Bryansk Region, shortly after the initial reports of the attack appeared. The air raid alert lasted 55 minutes.

Ukrainian saboteurs

- Reports about Ukrainian saboteurs on Russian territory appear regularly but usually concern the Kiev regime’s sabotage and reconnaissance groups active in Russia’s new regions.

- Telegram channel Mash reported on February 27 that a search for saboteurs was underway in the Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk regions. But, the regional authorities have refuted this information.