A rare cross-border assault in southern Russia by anti-Kremlin fighters aligned with Ukraine stretched into a second day on Tuesday, with reports of an explosion at a defense factory and skirmishes at a crossing, in one of the most brazen incursions into Russian territory since the war began.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that it had pushed back all of the pro-Ukrainian fighters across the border from the region of Belgorod and that scores of “saboteurs” had been killed. The claim could not be verified, and people representing the anti-Kremlin fighters maintained that the attacks were continuing.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, described the attackers as “Ukrainian militants” whose violence justified Moscow’s war against its neighbor. “This once again confirms that Ukrainian militants are continuing their activities against our country,” Mr. Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
When the incursions began on Monday, smoke could be seen billowing…
This article was written by Andrew E. Kramer, Valerie Hopkins and Michael Schwirtz and originally published on www.nytimes.com