Fighting has broken out along the Russian border with Ukraine after self-described Russian partisan forces launched a cross-border raid and claimed to have overrun a border settlement for the first time in the war. The Freedom of Russia Legion, which describes itself as an anti-Kremlin militia seeking to overthrow the Kremlin and liberate Russia from Vladimir Putin, claimed to have crossed the border and overrun the settlement of Kozinka, while sending units into the town of Grayvoron in Russia’s Belgorod region.
Any capture of territory in Belgorod has not been independently confirmed by journalists on the ground. The militia has mostly existed on social media and it is not known to have participated in any major battles during the war. But both Russia and Ukrainian officials have confirmed fighting at the border and social media video has shown armoured vehicles appearing to overrun a Russian border post near Grayvoron.
The Russian-imposed leader of the occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, has said that Russian forces have begun demining operations in Bakhmut. Tass quotes him appearing on the Rossiya-24 TV channel and saying: “There is a preliminary demining of the city. It is important for us to carry out a complete, thorough demining. This is a very painstaking and difficult work, given the scale of the hostilities that took place there.”
In another report, Tass quotes a source from the local Russian-imposed officials saying that “a few dozen more residents” remained in Bakhmut, but that “perhaps, the figure will change as the basements of houses are examined”. The source said that the “evacuation” of civilians continues.
Ukrainian troops are still advancing on the flanks of the devastated city, although the “intensity” of their movement has decreased and Russia is bringing in more forces, Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday. She said that Ukraine had a small foothold inside the city itself, again denying Russia’s assertion that it has established full control over Bakhmut.
Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulated Wagner and Russian regular forces on “the completion of the operation to liberate Artemovsk [the city’s Soviet-era name]” after Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin posed among the wreckage, and said his mercenary group controlled the entire city at the weekend. It has not been possible for journalists to verify the battlefield situation in the city for months.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been reconnected to the electricity grid after it was switched to standby and emergency power supply generators were used. Russia-installed local official in the Moscow-controlled part of the region Vladimir Rogov said the plant was “completely” disconnected from external power supply after Ukraine disconnected a power line it controls, Reuters reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, but Anatoliy Kurtev, Zaporizhzhia city council’s secretary in Ukraine, said that work was ongoing since early Monday to restore power to the city.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) “cannot continue”. The Washington Post is reporting that the UN nuclear watchdog is pushing for a last-minute agreement to safeguard Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ahead of any counteroffensive.
At least eight people were wounded and scores of buildings were damaged in a Russian air attack on Dnipropetrovsk region. “The Russian invaders attacked military and infrastructure facilities of the eastern outpost of Ukraine – the city of Dnipro,” Ukraine’s air force said on the Telegram messaging service. “The attack was carried out by 16 different types of missiles and 20 Shahed-136/131 strike drones,” the air force said, adding that air defences brought down 20 Russian drones and four cruise missiles. At least one person was injured, and images from the city show destruction of emergency services equipment in what appears to have been a strike on a fire station.
