Ukraine Army, RDK Attack South Russia (Video)

Russia’s media outlets have reported that the Russian Armed Forces along with border guards and other units of the Federal Security Service (FSB) succeeded in repelling a strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the militants of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) to carry out a terrorist operation in the town of Shchekino (Shchyokino) in the western of Belgorod region.

According to the Russian reports, two military groups from the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) with the support of tanks and artillery of the Ukrainian army intended to enter the towns of Novaya Tavolzhanka and Shchekino in Russian territory at 3 am (Moscow time) on Thursday (June 1), but their attack was unsuccessful due to the efforts made by the Russian military forces.

The Russian Ministry of Defense declared that in the operation, fighter jets carried out 11 air strikes and artillery units carried out 77 attacks against the Ukrainian forces. The military operation resulted in the death of more than 30 Ukrainian forces as well as the destruction of four armored vehicles, one Grad rocket launcher and a military van.

In the beginning of the confrontation, Ukrainian armed forces succeeded in capturing a Shebekino border post, and militants of the Russian Volunteer Corps also infiltrated the towns of Novaya Tavolzhanka and Shebekino, where they took some Russian army forces captive.

However, after a few minutes the Russian Armed Forces bombarded the positions of Ukrainian military forces at the Shebekino border post and RDK militants in the towns of Novaya Tavolzhanka and Shebekino; then the Russians cleared the areas from the control of Ukrainian armed forces and militants of the Russian Volunteer Corps.

After this initial encounter, militants of the Russian Volunteer Corps offered local Russian authorities a prisoner swap at the church of Novaya Tavolzhanka town in a video message. And governor of Belgorod Vyacheslav Gladkov responded positively to the prisoner exchange request and demanded the delivery of prisoners at the Shebekino post, but the exchange meeting turned into a conflict and Russians attacked the exchange site in an air strike.

Then, militants of the Russian Volunteer Corps released a new video in which they rejected Governor Belgorod’s offer to meet at Shebekino post and announced that there would be no exchange of Russian war prisoners. (Video No. 4) The images show a total of 13 prisoners, 10 out of the number were visible present at the video recording location and three others were injured and lying on beds.

No further details have been released about the final outcome of the conflict and the fate of Russian prisoners, but Russia claims to have recaptured border areas, while the Ukrainian military forces and RDK militants released videos on June 4 to deny retreating to the Ukrainian territory. According to the video Number 5, the RDK militants are still present on the outskirts of Novaya Tavolzhanka border town and Shebekino post with the support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and it seems that the conflict in Russian territory is still ongoing.

Simultaneous with the mentioned attack, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched other strikes on the Zaporozhye and Donetsk fronts, which the Russian Ministry of Defense claims to have repelled. However, field reports show that the fighting is still ongoing in the areas and some sources speak of the start of a spring operation by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was declared some months earlier.