2023 Bryansk Oblast raid

In early February 2023, Bryansk Oblast authorities claimed that they had been strengthening the border with Ukraine. The Governor of Bryansk Oblast Alexander Bogomaz posted photos from a meeting with "commanders of the group protecting the border" on his Telegram channel, and stated that "the work done on the construction of protective structures and strongpoints was highly appreciated by the command of the Russian Armed Forces." == Raid ==

Initial Russian reports On 2 March 2023, at around 11:30 MSK, Bogomaz reported that a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group made an incursion into Russian territory, entering the village of Lyubechane, Klimovsky District. According to him, the saboteurs fired at a moving car, killing one adult and injuring a child. It was reported that the passenger car was transporting children to a class. Subsequent to this initial report, TASS reported, citing a law enforcement source, that the group had penetrated into two villages, Lubechane and Sushany, and took several residents hostage. The Governor of Bryansk Oblast, Alexander Bogomaz, said two civilians were killed and an 11-year-old boy was wounded. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it acted together with the Russian military to "eliminate armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border". It later said that the attackers had been pushed back into Ukraine "where a massive artillery strike was inflicted on them". According to FSB, a large number of explosive devices had been found and demining was underway. The FSB did not mention the earlier report about a hostage-taking. == Claim of responsibility ==

Responsibility for the raid was claimed by the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK; ), an armed group of far-right fighting for Ukraine. Two videos posted online on 2 March show armed men in combat gear calling themselves the Russian Volunteer Corps. They say they crossed the border to fight "the bloody Putinite and Kremlin regime". Describing themselves as Russian "liberators", they called upon citizens to revolt against the government, and denied firing on civilians. According to an analysis by the American think tank Institute for the Study of War, social media users geolocated one of the two videos to Sushany. RDK's leader Denis Kapustin said that the aim was to expose how weakly guarded Russia's border areas are and to inspire armed opposition against "Kremlin usurpers". According to him, the 45-strong attacking force included anti-government insurgents based in Russia, Kapustin confirmed in an interview with the Financial Times that a shootout had taken place in one of the villages. He added that he was unaware of any civilian casualties. Kapustin also stated that had the raid not been coordinated with Ukraine, all its participants would have been killed. At the same time, the publication noted that reports of support from Kyiv remain unclear and are extremely difficult to verify in wartime conditions. == Aftermath ==

Reactions The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, said in a televised address that Ukrainian neo-Nazi "terrorists" crossed the border and targeted civilians. Putin said the attack confirmed that Russia did the right thing by invading Ukraine. Russia officially treats the event as an act of terrorism, and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has initiated a terrorism probe. The Ukrainian government and military denied carrying out a cross-border raid, According to a report by The New York Times, "Ukraine intelligence officials have tried to portray the incident as evidence of Russian divisions"; Andriy Cherniak, a representative of the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) was cited as saying: "This is a sign that Russia can no longer function normally and this leads to internal destruction". Russian "retaliatory attack" Other later events On 9 March, a video was released of some hooded and armed fighters claiming to be against "the regime of Putin" and inciting people to join them in front of the entrance sign to the village of Plekhovo, in Kursk Oblast, Russia. In late May, RVC, and other rebel groups allied with Ukraine began making more sizable incursions into Belgorod Oblast, Russia. == See also ==