Ukraine war: Anti-Kremlin fighters say Russian soldiers ‘captured’

Fighters opposing the government in Moscow announced that they had captured several Russian soldiers in Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border.

The Belgorod official replied that he had agreed to meet with the prisoners if the soldiers were still alive.

But then the fighters said they would extradite the prisoners to Ukraine because the governor “didn’t have the courage” to meet them.

Russia blames Ukraine for recent border attacks.

Kiev denies direct involvement.

The Russian military said on Sunday that Russian artillery hit a “terrorist” group near the village of Novaya Tavordyanka, adding that “the enemy dispersed and withdrew.”

Earlier, the militia group issued a message to the Telegram app saying it had captured the two men but would hand them over if Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov agreed to talks.

The video allegedly showed both prisoners, but the BBC was unable to independently confirm their identities.

The message was posted by the Russian Freedom Legion (FRL) and was described as a joint statement with the Russian Volunteer Army (RDK).

Gladkov responded in his Telegram video, saying he agreed to talks if the soldiers were shown to be still alive, adding that he believed the soldiers were probably killed.

RDK later posted another video, which appeared to show more prisoners this time, in which Mr Gladkov said he did not show up for the meeting.

RDK said that “neither the military nor the civilian leadership is interested” in the fate of the prisoners of war.

Meanwhile, the FRL described the Russian authorities as “rotten and vile.” They said they would now hand over the prisoners of war to Ukraine for exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Both groups want to overthrow President Vladimir Putin and oppose the full-scale invasion of Ukraine he launched last February.

Ukrainian officials said the two militias were made up of Russian citizens who wanted to create a “safe zone” for Ukrainians.

The RDK made headlines in March with a cross-border raid in Russia’s Bryansk region. Its leader is a Russian nationalist with suspected neo-Nazi ties.

The FRL is seen as another kind of organization fighting Russian forces alongside the Ukrainian army.

In the video, Mr Gladkov labeled the fighters in question “scoundrels, murderers and fascists” and promised to “guarantee their safety” should the talks take place.

And they asked me to go to Novaya Tavordyanka to meet him, but he said that this would be too dangerous and that he would wait at the checkpoint in the town of Shevekino.

Gladkov has not commented on the incident since the video, but posted photos of meetings with local and federal officials.

Kiev has denied any direct involvement in these attacks.

But it paints the growing violence on Russian territory as an inevitable consequence of last year’s Russian aggression.