Russian Volunteer Corps and Freedom of Russia Legion reveal their losses and where they got their equipment

Wednesday, 24 May 2023, 20:13

Representatives of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and the Freedom of Russia Legion have told journalists that they completed their combat and political missions in Belgorod Oblast, Russia.

Source: Radio Svoboda (Liberty); statement from the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion

Quote from the RVC representative: "The more strongly and powerfully we enter the territory of the Russian Federation, the more time they need to come to their senses and take measures in response. Until they rolled out a large number of tanks on the road, they did not really have anything to counter us with. It's just that we don't have a huge number of forces to occupy and fully control this entire territory. For us, it's a test of our forces."

Details: The fighters displayed what they said was a trophy Russian armoured personnel carrier.

The RVC said that two of its members had been wounded, and the Freedom of Russia Legion said two of its soldiers had been killed and ten wounded.

The fighters also stated that while on Russian territory they had "used equipment that the Kremlin zombie army took from the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Bakhmut. We have successfully ‘re-trophied’ this machinery and reclaimed it," the statement said.

Background: 

  • On 22 May, the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and the Freedom of Russia Legion (FRL), in which Russians fight for Ukraine, announced the "liberation" of several settlements in Belgorod Oblast, Russia, from Putin's government.
  • On 23 May, the Russian authorities announced that the RVC and FLR fighters, referred to as "saboteurs" in Russia, had been defeated and the "counter-terrorist" operations in Belgorod Oblast were over.
  • The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its report that the fighters of the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion could have moved closer to the border with Ukraine after the clash with Russian troops in Belgorod Oblast.
  • The RVC itself stated on 23 May that their equipment had remained undamaged and that the Russian Ministry of Defence was spreading lies about the destruction of convoys of "saboteur" equipment in Bryansk Oblast.
  • Ukrainian intelligence has confirmed that they are cooperating with the Russian Volunteer Corps by exchanging information.

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