2nd front in Russia?

Ukraine attempts breakthrough in another area

According to reports on Russian Telegram channels, Ukrainian troops have attempted to break through the border to the Belgorod region. Around 500 Ukrainian soldiers attacked border crossings in Nekhoteyevka and Shebekino, according to the Mash channel on Tuesday. Belgorod borders Ukraine and the Russian region of Kursk, where Ukrainian troops made a surprise advance on August 6.

The governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, confirmed on Telegram "information that the enemy is trying to break through the border of the Belgorod region". The situation is "difficult", he wrote, but "under control".

Support from mercenaries from Poland, Georgia and the USA
As the Telegram channel Mash further reported, the Ukrainian soldiers near Shebekino are said to have been shot at by Russian helicopters. According to the report, mercenaries from Poland, Georgia and the USA were also fighting in the Ukrainian units.

The Telegram channel SHOT reported attacks by Ukrainian troops with eight armored vehicles near Nekhoteyevka. They had been pushed back by Russian artillery and air strikes. The channel wrote that there had been no fighting near the Russian border town of Shebekino itself, but that Ukrainian troops had entered the nearby Ukrainian town of Vovchansk (Russian: Volchansk), which is occupied by Russia.

The area where the fighting is said to be taking place is located north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where the Ukrainian side of the border is largely controlled by Russian troops, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). It is located around 200 km south-east of the areas in the Russian oblast of Kursk where Ukrainian troops last advanced into Russia.