The rain of missiles in Ukraine does not stop – but there are also attacks on Russian territory from time to time. Images and videos of rocket attacks on an apartment building in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border, circulated Thursday.
Who carried out the attacks on the city has not yet been independently clarified, but the governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has blamed Ukraine for the missile strikes on Telegram. Although the Belgorod region has been a regular target of Ukraine since the spring, the regional capital of the same name has rarely been targeted. Earlier this week, Gladkov said 2,000 people were temporarily without power because of Ukrainian shelling at a power plant.
Ukraine immediately rejected the accusation. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak explained that the Russian army tried to bomb the Ukrainian city of Kharkov near the border, “but something went wrong”. However, as the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported, Russia may have made these allegations for a specific reason: to misrepresent Ukraine as a terrorist state.
Russia wants to justify massive attacks
It is not the first action that the Russians want to blame the Ukrainians: several Russian sources reported on Wednesday that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has arrested Ukrainian citizens for alleged “terrorist attacks” in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Moscow and Bryansk.
“It is necessary to recognize Ukraine as a terrorist state,” write several pro-government Russian Telegram channels. “Otherwise, Russia will inevitably be overrun by a wave of terrorist attacks. The bastards will stop for nothing.”
The ISW analyzes: “Claims about preparations for allegedly subversive Ukrainian activities in Russia are consistent with a broader effort to create information conditions to respond to Ukrainian attempts to formally designate Russia as a terrorist state.” The Russian information space could also create conditions to justify further massive attacks on Ukraine’s back areas, the institute said.
Kiev attacked Russian border areas in September
As early as September, there were reports that Ukrainian troops had attacked Russian border areas. As the Washington Post reported at the time, “military targets in Russia were hit by artillery attacks.” “Russian officials in towns along the border are recommending hasty evacuations.”
According to information from the “General SVR”, some parts of the Bryansk, Kursk, Voronezh and Rostov regions were also affected by the evacuations. Concerns were also raised about “civil war and the collapse of the country” in connection with a feared mobilization in the area. However, it remains unclear whether Ukraine is also behind the renewed attacks on Belgorod. (chs)