Russian border region sees fresh clashes

Published June 5, 2023
DNIPRO (Ukraine): Rescuers work at the site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, on the city’s outskirts, on Sunday.—Reuters
DNIPRO (Ukraine): Rescuers work at the site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, on the city’s outskirts, on Sunday.—Reuters

KYIV: The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine said on Sunday that fighting was ongoing on his side of the frontier and acknowledged pro-Ukrainian forces had taken Russians prisoner during cross-border clashes.

The governor, Vyache­slav Gladkov, said he was ready for talks to retrieve “our guys” from the saboteur fighters who say they have taken Russian soldiers prisoner in the Belgorod region.

It was the first time a Russian official had admitted to the capture of prisoners on Moscow’s territory by pro-Ukraine forces during the more than 15 months of conflict.

The pro-Kyiv groups made up of Russians, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Legion for Freedom of Russia, had earlier called on the Belgorod governor to meet fighters and retrieve captive soldiers.

“The only thing stopping me from negotiating with them is our guys that are in their hands, maybe they are already dead,” Gladkov said. He said fighting was ongoing in the border village of Novaya Tavolzhanka.

Ukraine has intensively shelled Russian settlements on the border this week, forcing thousands to flee to the regional hub of Belgorod.

“A sabotage group came in, there is combat in Novaya Tavolzhanka,” Gladkov said.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2023

Opinion

Editorial

Accruing more debt
Updated 28 Sep, 2023

Accruing more debt

We are in midst of the worst, longest economic crisis because of lavish lifestyles of powerful interests.
Israeli normalisation
28 Sep, 2023

Israeli normalisation

OVER the past few weeks, there have been many reports prophesising the impending normalisation of ties between Saudi...
Kandhkot tragedy
28 Sep, 2023

Kandhkot tragedy

THE tragic incident that unfolded yesterday in Sindh’s Kandhkot tehsil, leading to the deaths of at least nine...
More desecration
Updated 27 Sep, 2023

More desecration

Attacks on the Islamic faith are not motivated by an attachment to free speech but by raw hatred.
Worrying remarks
27 Sep, 2023

Worrying remarks

THESE are ominous words from Gwadar. Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, chairman of the Gwadar Haq Do Tehreek, has warned ...
Justice or vendetta?
Updated 27 Sep, 2023

Justice or vendetta?

ONE wonders whether all pretence of the state as a democracy has been whittled down to a point where it has simply...