Ukrainian forces reportedly kill Belgorod operative group leader
In the settlement of Novaya Tavolzhanka, Shebekino District, Belgorod Oblast, Andrey Stesev, a senior operative group Belgorod leader, was killed, reported the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
According to operational information, in the early hours of June 5 in the settlement of Novaya Tavolzhanka, guard colonel Andrey Stesev – the senior operative group Belgorod leader was killed.
Previously, he held the position of commander of the 104th Airborne Assault Regiment of the Russian Air Force. This regiment, among others, was involved in the murders of civilians in Bucha. The regiment is part of the 76th Guards Airborne Assault Division (Pskov), which suffered one of the heaviest losses among paratroopers in the Russian Federation.
The Freedom of Russia Legion declared that it was they, together with the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), who eliminated Colonel Stesev.
"He died in a shooting battle, like an officer with a weapon in his hands, but it must be admitted that these hands are up to the elbows in blood <...> Stesev killed civilians in Chechnya, Yugoslavia, Abkhazia and on the territory of Ukraine," the message says.
On June 4, the RDK and the Freedom of Russia Legion invited the governor of Belgorod Oblast, Vyacheslav Gladkov, to meet for negotiations in Novaya Tavolzhanka.
The commander of the RDK, Denis Kapustin, said that the unit captured two Russian soldiers, and on the occasion of the Orthodox holiday of the Trinity, he was ready to release them. Gladkov never arrived, and Kapustin said in the evening of the same day that there were already "many more" Russian prisoners.
The Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) are paramilitary organizations consisting of citizens of the Russian Federation and declaring the goal of overthrowing the regime of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
They began to operate in Belgorod Oblast on May 22. Ukrainian intelligence says that they operate autonomously in the Russian Federation, but they are aware of their goal of creating a security buffer zone around Ukraine.
