Russian troops cross border on foot: Ukraine's Forces report breach in Hrabovske
Illustrative photo: at least a hundred Russian soldiers in Hrabovske (Russian media)
Russian forces have managed to establish a foothold in Hrabovske near the border of the Sumy region. There are up to a hundred of them: they are not the so-called "elite" of the Russian army, but neither are they yesterday’s conscripts who don’t know how to fight, according to a statement by Viktor Trehubov, spokesperson for the Joint Forces Group, during a national telethon live broadcast.
"They have, unfortunately, established themselves in the southern part of the settlement, and their presence there continues," Trehubov said.
At the same time, there are constant clashes, but the Russian troops are unable to advance further. There are roughly a hundred military servicemen in Hrabovske, though the exact number is hard to determine, as Russian soldiers constantly move across the border on foot.
An important point — there is no so-called "elite" of the Russian army in Hrabovske. These are regular soldiers from an ordinary Russian motorized rifle brigade, typical regional contract servicemen who joined the Russian occupation army for large sums of money.
"They are trained to some extent and in a certain way. These are not people for whom war is a professional occupation; they are not some super-duper fighters who have seen Syria or Libya, but they are also not 'chmobiki' (a nickname for the men drafted in the recent partial mobilisation in Russia - ed) — people sent into combat yesterday who don’t even know which way the rifle fires," Trehubov noted.
Strange situation
Overall, according to the spokesperson for the Joint Forces Group, the situation in this border settlement is fairly standard — if not for the "strange operation" by the Russian forces involving the abduction of civilians from Hrabovske. Moreover, the Russians’ behavior has been rather odd.
"There was an operation involving the actual kidnapping of people, and there were attempts at pressure in several directions, not even entirely neighboring ones, but not so sudden or massive. So it’s too early to say that some strategic operation is brewing there," Trehubov said.
There is also no reason to suggest that the Defense Forces are being distracted from other directions. This generally looks like a small, isolated operation carried out mainly for some informational or political purpose.
"Perhaps some kind of information provocation. Because we have never seen a situation where they just entered and immediately took many people. Previously, people were taken after the occupation of a settlement and after some time, following filtration procedures, but to start immediately evacuating people — that never happened," the spokesperson concluded.
Russian forces abducted residents of the Sumy region
On the night of December 18, Russian forces entered the village of Hrabovske in the Sumy region, located directly on the border with Russia, and took about 50 local residents to Russian territory. Most of them were elderly people who had refused to evacuate.
According to eyewitnesses, the Russian troops first gathered people in the local church, and then over the course of several hours, transported them to Russia. There is no confirmation that the removal was carried out by force. In addition, 13 Ukrainian servicemen were captured along with the civilians.
The Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, emphasized that such actions constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law. The Russian forces effectively kidnapped people and took them to their territory. Ukraine has demanded that Russia return the abducted civilians.
