Pro-Kremlin TV host Olga Skabeeva warned viewers to "get used" to seeing attacks inside Russia after dozens of missiles reportedly struck the country's Belgorod region last week as Ukrainian forces are preparing to launch a major counteroffensive.
Skabeeva made her remarks during a Russian state TV segment, which was posted with English subtitles on Sunday to Twitter by Julia Davis, a columnist at The Daily Beast and creator of the Russian Media Monitor.
"Meanwhile on CNN, they openly say that strikes against Russia are Ukraine's new strategy. They suggest that you and I get used to this experience," Skabeeva said in the video clip.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote in a Telegram post on Friday that roughly 850 missiles and other projectiles struck Shebekino, a district in the region near Russia's border with Ukraine. The attacks injured 16 people and killed two women from the village of Maslova Pristan, according to the governor. Gladkov added that Ukrainian forces are behind the shelling, but Ukraine didn't comment on the allegation, according to CNN.
Experts on Russian state TV concluded that Ukraine's counter-offensive had already started — in Russia. Host Olga Skabeeva said Russia needs the final solution of the Ukrainian question and proposed "destroying every living thing" in the Kharkiv region.https://t.co/hwIJ9DSVps
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) June 4, 2023
Belgorod's governor also wrote that the attacks damaged 10 industrial and business structures, three office buildings, and a dormitory all located in the region. Additionally, 65 mortar strikes were launched recently at Grayvoron, another border city in Belgorod that is roughly 70 miles west of Shebekino, but no injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, Russian rebel groups recently said that they have crossed into Belgorod, even though the Kremlin previously claimed that they have been successfully repelled. Gladkov also denied that any pro-Ukraine groups were in Belgorod. Ilya Ponomarev, an exiled Russian politician who says he is the political representative for one of the groups, the Freedom of Russia Legion, told Newsweek on Thursday that the group, alongside the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), crossed into Shebekino.
The Freedom of Russia Legion was established shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last February, and is composed of defectors from the Russian armed forces as well as Russian and Belarusian volunteers. The RVC says its members include Russians fighting on Ukraine's side and against Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime.
On Thursday, the British defense ministry said that partisan groups were behind the attacks in Belgorod.
"In a complex battlefield situation, what appeared to be uncrewed aerial vehicles also struck Belgorod city (35km inside Russia), while the authorities evacuated civilians from the border town of Shebikino following Ukrainian shelling," the defense ministry said.
"The Russia military and interior forces have likely seen quicker success in containing this raid than the previous one," it added, referring to crossings into Belgorod by the Freedom of Russia Legion and the RVC on May 22. The Legion claimed at the time to have seized the village of Kozinka and said that its units had entered Grayvoron.
Last month, former Russian commander Igor Girkin said that attacks on Belgorod were inevitable. He predicted that the Ukrainian army might launch a series of "diversionary" strikes that would prompt Russia to react "seriously" such as striking Russian territories.
"They [Ukrainian troops] are unlikely to set the task of capturing [Russian city] Belgorod ....That is fraught with the risk that the Russian bear will really stop sluggishly fighting back. He will get angry, jump out of the den, and start fighting for real," Girkin said at the time.
Belgorod was the site where Soviet power was established in 1917, but the city was occupied by Germany in April 1918. Later that year, Belgorod became part of Ukraine until it was recaptured in 1943 by Soviet forces.
Russia has seen a number of attacks targeting its territories in recent weeks, including two drones that crashed into the Kremlin in Moscow last month. On Tuesday, Russia blamed Ukraine for a large-scale drone attack on Moscow and claimed that at least eight drones caused minor damage, but Ukraine denied that it was responsible.
Newsweek reached out by email to the Russian foreign affairs ministry for comment.
