MOSCOW: Russia’s defense minister Sergei Shoigu warned on Wednesday that Moscow would respond to attacks on its soil “extremely harshly”, after Russian planes and artillery fought off an armed outfit that crossed from Ukraine.
The incursion was the gravest since Moscow started its aggression against Ukraine last year, with the war in Russia’s Belgorod region lasting for days.
Shoigu said that Russia would continue to respond promptly and very harshly to such activities by Ukrainian militants.
He said that the Russian military had killed more than seventy Ukrainian terrorists and destroyed armed vehicles during different skirmishes, claims AFP could not independently verify.
Russia’s claims about remaining fighters
Russia said that the remaining fighters had been pushed back across the border.
Shoigu said that injured soldiers and the families of the killed would be given grants of up to five million rubles (62,550 dollars), and their loans would also be paid off.
Fighters of 2 anti-Kremlin groups, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion, claimed responsibility for the incursion, while Ukraine denied official involvement.
