Russia claims Ukraine opened fire on Russian checkpoint in Kursk Oblast
IRYNA BALACHUK – WEDNESDAY, 15 JUNE 2022, 09:56
Roman Starovoyt, the governor of Kursk Oblast, claims that Ukraine shelled the Krupets checkpoint in the Rylsk district of Kursk Oblast of the Russian Federation on the morning of 15 June.
Source: Starovoyt on Telegram
Quote from Starovoyt: "At 07:30 today, the enemy shelled the Krupets checkpoint in the Rylsk district from the Ukrainian side of the border. There are no casualties or damage."
Details: The Russian governor said that the Russian border guards allegedly "repelled the attack by launching counter-fire."
Significance: Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Having failed to capture Kyiv, Chernihiv, or Kharkiv, Russian occupation forces have retreated from the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy oblasts and have focused their efforts in eastern and southern Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia continues to open fire on towns and villages near the Ukrainian-Russian border in the Chernihiv and Sumy oblasts of Ukraine from within its own territory.
Background:
- On 14 June, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said that Ukrainian people are not terrorists and therefore would never fire on residential areas in the Russian Federation.
- The West has been reluctant to supply Ukraine with long-range weapons for fear of provoking Russia.
- On 1 June, the US President Joe Biden announced a new package of aid for Ukraine, which includes High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
- Western countries are supplying Ukraine with Multiple Launch Missile Systems (MLRS), which Ukraine desperately needs, on condition that these weapons not be deployed to attack targets within the territory of the Russian Federation.
Russia has been so riled up by the supply of MLRS to Ukraine that Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Head of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, has announced that Russia will attack decision-making centres in Ukraine, which, according to Medvedev, are not located in Kyiv.
