Fighting in Belgorod entered its second day after ‘Russian partisan fighters’ crossed the border from Ukraine.
Located some 400 miles from Moscow, the Russian city has become vulnerable to the effects of the war, and its own government dropped a bomb there in April.
Footage of an alleged ‘sabotage group’ made out of anti-Putin Russians entering territory in the Graivoron district bordering Ukraine began to emerge on Telegram on Monday morning.
Though these remain unverified, reports said the local headquarters of the interior ministry and FSB security service had been targeted.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, confirmed that forces have continued to sweep the rural area, where the alleged attack took place.
At least 10 civilians were wounded, and one died, he added, also urging residents who evacuated on Monday to stay put and not go back to their homes.
‘We will let you know immediately when it is safe. Security agencies are carrying out all the necessary actions,’ Mr Gladkov said.
‘We are waiting for the counterterrorism operation to be over.’
It was impossible to verify who was behind the attack or what its aims were, but disinformation has swiftly made its way on both Russian and Ukrainian channels.
Moscow blamed it on Ukrainian military saboteurs, but Kyiv said it was an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans.
The Ukrainian outlet Hromadske cited Ukrainian military intelligence as saying two armed Russian opposition groups, the Liberty of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), were behind the attack.
Hromadske said both were composed of Russian nationals committed to fighting the Kremlin authorities.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that Kyiv was ‘watching the events in the Belgorod region’ but was not involved.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said Russian security forces ‘highly likely’ clashed with partisans in at least three locations within Belgorod.
‘Russia is facing an increasingly serious multi-domain security threat in its border regions, with losses of combat aircraft, improvised explosive device attacks on rail lines, and now direct partisan action,’ it said in a tweet today.
In addition to the alleged incursion, Mr Gladkov reported multiple drone attacks on Graivoron and other settlements of the Belgorod region on Monday.
The attacks resulted in no casualties, but damaged buildings and caused a fire.
Two more drones were shot down by the region’s air defence systems earlier today.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the president had been informed, and that work was under way to drive out the ‘saboteurs’, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.