Global Courant 2023-05-23 08:02:05
Ukraine launched an operation in Russia on the morning of May 22, targeting the outskirts of Belgorod, where the Ukrainians initially captured three settlements.
Reportedly there was a Russian border crossing in Belgorod Oblast destroyed by artillery shelling from the territory of Ukraine. After that, the incursion of troops, supported by armored vehicles, began from Ukraine to Belgorod Oblast.
This operation had both a political and a strategic purpose.
The political aim was to embarrass the Russians, who reacted very slowly to the raid, and to divert attention from the massive failure of the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut.
The strategic objective was to obtain nuclear warheads stored at location “Object 1150” near the settlement of Grayvoron, home to the Russian military unit 25624, part of Russia’s strategic missile force.
It is an “Object C”, which is the conventional name for Russia’s central nuclear weapons storage base, Ukrainska Pravda reported. According to both Russian and Ukrainian sources, the Russians apparently removed the nuclear warheads at the last minute.
The 240mm RD14 warhead stored at Grayvoron can be mounted on the self-propelled 3VB11 Tyulpan mortar, the largest mortar in the world. The upgraded warhead has an explosive power of over 2 kilotons.
If Ukraine could have captured these warheads, they could have attached them to tactical missiles without much effort.
Why exactly Russia kept these weapons less than 15 kilometers from the border is not clear, but it was reckless to do so. Their arrest could have led to a nuclear conflict.
This video shows the use of the weapon with a conventional warhead.
The raid was reportedly led by a so-called Legion for Russia, which included a Russian volunteer corps. In fact, it was a Ukrainian army and intelligence operation.
Unless Ukrainian forces can withdraw across the border fairly quickly, they are likely to be destroyed.
The Legion “Freedom for Russia” and RDK (Russian Volunteer Corps), reportedly made up of Russian citizens who decided to fight on the side of Ukraine and joined the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, claimed its fighters crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border and entered Belgorod Oblast from the territory of Ukraine.
The Legion “Freedom for Russia” and RDK announced on their official Telegram channels that their forces had penetrated deep into Russian territory and engaged in combat with the Russian forces in several towns in Belgorod Oblast, namely Kozinka, Gora-Podol and Grayvoron (the latter is located about ten kilometers from the Russian -Ukrainian border), and called on residents of the Russian border regions to stay at home and “not to resist”.
Soon after, locals in Grayvoron began reporting gunfire in their town.
A representative of the Legion of Freedom for Russia told Suspilne, a Ukrainian news media outlet, that they are creating a “demilitarized zone” in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, on the border with Ukraine, from which Russian troops cannot fire on Ukrainian civilians.
Andrii Yusov, the Intel spokesman of Ukraine, said that the combat operation in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast could be an attempt to establish a “safety zone” to protect Ukrainians from Russian attacks.
However, Andriy Yusov said that Ukraine had nothing to do with the events in Belgorod Oblast, claiming that the fighting there was being fought by local anti-Putin forces consisting only of Russian citizens.
Advisor to the head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak denied Ukraine’s involvement in the raid on the Russian Belgorod Oblast.
“The only driving political force in a totalitarian country of tightened screws is always an armed guerrilla movement. Ukraine is following with interest the events in the Belgorod region of Russia and studying the situation, but it has nothing to do with it. As you know, tanks are sold in every Russian military store, and underground guerrilla groups are composed of Russian citizens, “Podolak wrote on Twitter.
Mykhailo Podoliak says Ukraine had nothing to do with the cross-border attack. Image: Instagram
At around 6 p.m., the governor of Belgorod Oblast, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said informed on his official Telegram account that a counter-terrorism operation had been announced in Belgorod Oblast “to ensure the safety of the citizens of the Belgorod region”.
President Vladimir Putin has been informed about the raid of “Ukrainian saboteur groups” in Belgorod Oblast, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti, a Russian news media.
According to Peskov, Russian troops “tried to squeeze and destroy Ukrainian saboteurs from Russia”. Peskov claimed that the purpose of the “Ukrainian sabotage” was to divert attention from Bakhmut’s direction in order to minimize the political effect of Bakhmut’s “loss”.
Stephen Bryen is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and the Yorktown Institute. This article was originally published on its Substack, Weapons and Strategy. Global Courant republishes it with permission.
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