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Source: »Legion of Free Russia«

The Belgorod region in the Russian border area. The former deployment area of the Russian army for the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has itself become a war zone. For days, so-called Russian resistance fighters have been roaming around here, carrying the war across the Ukrainian border into Russian territory. These recordings were taken by the »Legion of Free Russia«. They proudly document their march across the border with videos.

The Legion is carrying out its mission together with the right-wing extremist group "Russian Volunteer Corps" – such as this advance into the village of Novaya Tavolshanka.

Source: Russian Volunteer Corps
In a recently released video, the front men of the Volunteer Corps claimed to have taken control of the small town.

Denis Kapustin, Commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps
"I would like to remind every Russian citizen that this is not an abandoned village, but a place of 5,000 inhabitants. Apart from the fighters of the Russian Volunteer Corps, no one is here."

Belgorod
Thousands of residents of the border towns have left their homes – and have arrived at emergency shelters like this one in Belgorod.

Tatjana, a resident of Shebekino
»We are refugees now. Shebekino was a beautiful city, we liked living there. But now we had to get out of there...«

Frustration is growing among the refugees: Russia is not doing enough to protect its own territories.

Alexandra Bespalova, resident of Shebekino

"I have always believed that we are right, that our government is right in taking Luhansk, the Donbass region and our Russian people under its wing. But I also believe that you have to defend yourself first. «

Confident of victory, the Z signs of the Russian war of aggression are emblazoned in the city – but there can hardly be any talk of an effective defense of the region. The Russian units stationed here have apparently not been able to drive out the anti-Putin fighters for days. According to the governor, more than 4000,<> people have been relocated to shelters so far. A measure that has supposedly been expected for a long time:

Valentin Demidov, Mayor Belgorod
»We bought beds and bed linen. We've been prepared for a year now, to be honest. We had organized everything on the instructions of the governor. So we were able to use all these things very quickly not only in the city of Belgorod, but also in the rest of the Belgorod region."

The leadership in Kiev denies direct involvement in the activities of the militants in the Belgorod region. The war is gradually spreading to the territory of Russia, because Russian authorities are losing control there – according to the official statement of Kiev.

It is possible that the attacks of the legionnaires serve as a distraction with regard to the Ukrainian counteroffensive. In any case, they are sure to attract attention with actions like these.

On Tuesday, the day of the dam collapse in southern Ukraine, the Legion of Free Russia took the opportunity to denounce the event as an "act of environmental terrorism".

"Tonight
, on the orders of the insane terrorist Vladimir Putin, the occupying authorities of the Russian Federation blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station."
"The reasons for the detonation are clear: the Kremlin wants to slow down the offensive of the Ukrainian armed forces. And somehow try to escape from Crimea."

Source: Ukrainian Armed Forces
The loud public relations work of the so-called legionnaires is in stark contrast to the demonstrative silence on the part of the Ukrainian army. With this video, it had already called days ago not to reveal anything about its counteroffensive. Plans love silence – there will be no announcement, they said.

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