STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT-Moscow. Russia’s armed forces and border patrol in the Bryansk region have prevented a Ukrainian sabotage-and-reconnaissance unit from entering the country, local governor Aleksandr Bogomaz reported on Thursday.
According to the official, the 20-strong unit had tried to penetrate Russian territory near the village of Sluchovsk in the Pogarsky district in Bryansk Region, north from Ukraine. However, their attempt was thwarted by Russian forces, who opened fire on the group, Bogomaz said.
Earlier in the day, the governor of the region also reported that Kiev’s troops had launched a mortar strike on the village of Zapesochye, in the Pogarsky district. He claimed that there were no casualties as a result of the attack, but noted that ten residential houses and one car were damaged in the shelling.
Bogomaz also reported that a Ukrainian UAV had dropped an explosive device in the region, injuring one person.
Last month, another group of Ukrainian saboteurs crossed into Bryansk Region and launched raids on several local villages, killing at least two civilians and injuring one child. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) reported at the time that it had stopped the group by pushing them back to Ukrainian territory and hitting them with a “massive artillery strike.”
That incident was branded a “terrorist attack” by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called the people responsible for such acts “neo-Nazis and terrorists.”
Russian regions bordering Ukraine have regularly come under attack by Kiev’s forces since the start of the protracted conflict. Local authorities in Bryansk and Kursk Regions have repeatedly reported shelling by Ukrainian forces, which has occasionally resulted in civilian casualties but has caused damage to numerous residential buildings.
