Amid the escalating tensions on the Russia-Ukraine border, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, confirmed on Sunday that fighting was ongoing on the Russian side and acknowledged the capture of Russian soldiers by pro-Ukrainian forces.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine said on Sunday that fighting was ongoing on his side of the frontier and acknowledged pro-Ukrainian forces had taken Russians prisoner during cross-border clashes.

The governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said he was ready for talks to retrieve “our guys” from the saboteur fighters who say they have taken Russian soldiers prisoner in the Belgorod region.

It was the first time a Russian official had admitted to the capture of prisoners on Moscow’s territory by pro-Ukraine forces during the more than 15 months of conflict.

The pro-Kyiv groups made up of Russians, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Legion for Freedom of Russia, had earlier called on the Belgorod governor to meet fighters and retrieve captive soldiers.

“The only thing stopping me from negotiating with them is our guys that are in their hands, maybe they are already dead,” Gladkov said.

He said fighting was ongoing in the border village of Novaya Tavolzhanka.

Ukraine has intensively shelled Russian settlements on the border this week, forcing thousands to flee to the regional hub of Belgorod.

“A sabotage group came in, there is combat in Novaya Tavolzhanka,” Gladkov said.

“I hope they will all be destroyed.”

Russia’s army subsequently claimed to have repelled a “sabotage group of Ukrainian terrorists” seeking to cross the frontier near to the settlement.

“The enemy was hit by artillery. The enemy scattered and retreated,” it said in a statement.

Fighting around Novaya Tavolzhanka follows last month’s dramatic armed incursion from Ukraine into the Belgorod region which forced Moscow to use its artillery and air force on home soil.

Marie de La Roche Saint-André, with AFP

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