On the same night, Ukrainian drones targeted six Russian regions as anti-Kremlin militia groups fighting alongside Kiev reportedly launched an “attack” and carried out cross-border raids. The Russian authorities claim to have repelled an invasion attempt by anti-Putin rebels.

Russian forces allegedly repelled an invasion of anti-Putin rebels on the border with Ukraine and forced the attackers to retreat, suffering significant losses, Russia’s defense minister said, Reuters reports.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that it had prevented attempts to invade the border by “Ukrainian terrorist groups” in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, The Moscow Times notes.

An independent Russian publication, declared a “foreign agent” by Moscow, reported that unverified videos were being circulated on Telegram showing armored vehicles entering villages in at least one of the border regions. Shots can also be heard in the video. And WarTranslated published images allegedly taken during the attacks.

Reuters reported earlier that at least two armed groups in Ukraine, which say they are made up of Russians opposed to the Kremlin, said they had launched an incursion across Russia’s western border.

“About 3:00 am Moscow time, after intensive shelling of civilian objects, Ukrainian terrorist formations using tanks and armored vehicles attempted to invade the territory of the Russian Federation,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

“All attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were repelled by selfless actions of the Russian military. The enemy launched strikes from aviation, missile forces and artillery,” he added.

According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, up to 60 “Ukrainian terrorists”, five tanks and an armored personnel carrier were “destroyed” during the invasion attempt.

Anti-Kremlin militants are “advancing” Russia

The statement from the Ministry of Defense came after the anti-Kremlin militia groups “Legion of Freedom of Russia” and “Russian Volunteer Corps”, which fight on the side of Kyiv, said that they were “on the attack” and “crossing the border” with Russia.

Both groups posted videos on Telegram showing their fighters and armored vehicles engaging in combat. It is unclear where and when the videos were shot, The Moscow Times reports.

The Legion “Freedom of Russia” announced on social networks that its forces “destroyed” Russian armored vehicles in the village of Tyotkino, Kursk Region.

At the same time, the Russian volunteer corps said that they would publish additional details of the attack in the near future.

Russian military correspondents confirmed the attacks.

A spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence said that the Russian volunteer groups were not acting on Kyiv’s orders when launching their attacks.

“On the territory of the Russian Federation, they act completely autonomously, independently and fulfill the tasks of their socio-political program,” – said the spokesman of the State Government of Ukraine Andriy Yusov to the Ukrainian media.

Skirmish on the Russian-Ukrainian border

In the Kursk region, the authorities said that an armed group had launched an attack from Ukraine.

“A sabotage and reconnaissance group tried to cross the border, there was a shootout. But there was no penetration,” Governor Roman Starovoit said in a Telegram video message.

He specified that the shelling was aimed at the village of Tyotkino, which is located right on the border of Russia and Ukraine.

Starovoit said that a civilian was injured during the shelling.

The authorities of the Belgorod region, announcing a series of Ukrainian drone attacks in the area, did not confirm whether an armed group had invaded across the border.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) initially denied reports that armed militia groups had managed to enter the Kursk and Belgorod regions, state media reported.

However, the FSB still said that they “stopped several attempts to cross the state border” of Russia since Sunday, TASS reports.

“More than 100 enemy personnel, six tanks, self-propelled artillery “Caesar”, 20 units of combat armored vehicles were destroyed,” the law enforcement agency reported, without specifying whether these are data on raids reported on Tuesday or on previous days.

Russian army “on combat readiness”

Later on Tuesday, the Kremlin said the Russian military was on high alert following the border attacks.

“Of course, such terrorist activity continues, there are strikes, or rather, strikes on civilian structures and so on by the Kyiv regime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov said at a press briefing.

Last year, a series of cross-border incursions by pro-Ukrainian militants took place, the largest of which took place in the city of Shebekino, Belgorod Region, in June.