Ukraine's intelligence chief: rebel raid in Russia will not end soon

Photo: open sources

Onischenko Elena

Volunteer units of the Free Russia Legions, the Russian Volunteer Corps, and the Siberian battalion plan to continue the operation on the territory of the border regions of the Russian Federation with Ukraine.

The head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, stated this on the air of the national telethon "Yedyni Novyny."

Speaking about the raid of Russian volunteers on the territory of the aggressor country, he noted that "this is an internal issue."

"We may like some of them [Russians – ed.] more, others less. But all of them are Russians," the head of Ukrainian military intelligence about the rebel units said.

He said, "As far as we know, they will not finish shortly."

"They will do what they have the strength to do. As we can see, they have enough strength to achieve at least limited success. We will see what happens next," Budanov said.

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The fighters from the Free Russia Legion have been conducting repeated raids near the borders of Russia. They have gained control over certain territories and clashed with the Russian military.

On March 12, the Free Russia Legion and Siberian Battalion initiated a new offensive, entering the Belgorod region. Specifically, they have broken through on tanks and are now advancing in multiple directions within the Belgorod region.

Russian volunteers actively publish appeals. They announced they are "going to the polls" and "will do everything so that Putin moves from Novo-Ogaryovo to Polar Wolf."

Andriy Yusov, the representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, in turn, said that the fighters operate as independent units on the territory of Russia and that their joint operation is probably underway.

Ukrainian intelligence also made statements regarding the weapons being carried by Russian volunteers who crossed the Russian border on March 12. They also explained the repeated occurrence of these raids.

The Russian Federation's Ministry of Defense followed their usual procedure, stating that there were only "attempts" by volunteers to invade Russian territory. They have located the "culprits" and announced that they had "repulsed" the volunteers and "eliminated" dozens of them.