Ukrainian troops have been pictured in the village of Poroz in Russia’s Belgorod region, opening yet another front after invading Kursk earlier this week.
Unconfirmed videos widely shared on social media appeared to show members of the Georgian Legion and the 252nd Territorial Defence Battalion in front of the village club in Poroz just 2km from the Ukrainian border.
While thousands of Ukraine’s troops have stormed into Kursk Oblast to the north, this is the first time they have been pictured in Belgorod, opening yet another front inside Russia.
Poroz is around 80km (50 miles) south east of Pehklovo in the Kursk region, which Ukrainian troops are also reported to have reached as part of their earlier incursion.
Unconfirmed reports suggest Ukrainian forces entered the Poroz region under the cover of artillery fire.
The Georgian Legion is mainly made up of volunteers from the small former Soviet Republic in the Caucasus, which itself fought a war against Russia in 2008 – it has been designated as a terrorist organisation by Russian authorities.
Russian officials have declared the situation in the Kursk region a “federal level” emergency, four days after hundreds of Ukrainian troops poured over the border in that area.
Ukraine has previously launched drone strikes against targets within Russia itself – with the Belgorod region being a regular target due to its close proximity to Ukraine.
However the latest attacks represent the largest deployment of land forces into its larger neighbour since Putin’s full-scale invasion started in February 2022.
Meanwhile, a Russian plane-launched missile struck a Ukrainian shopping centre in the middle of the day, killing at least 14 people and wounding 44 others, authorities said.
The shopping centre in Kostiantynivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, is located in the town’s residential area. Thick black smoke rose above it after the strike.
Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin said in a Telegram post: “This is another targeted attack on a crowded place, another act of terror by the Russians.”
It was the second major strike on the town in almost a year.
Last September, a Russian missile hit an outdoor market there, killing 17.
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