Satellite photos show US may have meddled in Belgorod infiltration

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
23 May 17:31

Right after news of the infiltration broke out, a counterterrorism operation was declared in the affected area.

Satellite pictures from US company Maxar's website. (Screengrab)

Data posted on a US-owned company's website Maxar on Tuesday revealed that a US satellite carried out a survey of the area where a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group recently infiltrated Russia’s southern Belgorod region.

According to the information on the website, the company's satellite took photos of the village of Kozinka on May 20.

The area was surveyed several times, including on May 2, and May 17, as well as in February and March.

On Monday, a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group had penetrated the territory of the Grayvoronsky district of the region.

Several civilian and administration buildings have been targeted as a result of the sabotage operation.

On the first day of the attack, eight people were injured as a result of the shelling. The following day, the region's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that two additional people were injured in the affected areas.

According to the regional governor, a hundred civilians were evacuated and sent to the temporary accommodation centers in Stary Oskol, in the Yakovlevsky and Ivnyansky Districts of the Belgorod Region. The evacuation operation is reportedly still underway.

"Since last evening, our task group led by the head of the regional security directorate Evgeny Vorobyev has been evacuating civilians from Glotovo and Kozinok. In all, about 100 people have been evacuated to date, including bedridden patients and children," regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.

Right after news of the infiltration broke out, a counterterrorism operation was declared.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the Russian Defense Ministry, the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Border Guard Service briefed Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukrainian saboteurs’ infiltration into the Belgorod Region.