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Ukrainian troops “destroyed” a command post of the Third Motor Rifle Division of the 20th Army of the Russian Armed Forces near the village of Demidovka in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast on March 18, Ukraine’s General Staff reported on March 20.The news comes days after Moscow claimed that Ukrainian troops allegedly launched an offensive on Belgorod Oblast. Russian reports emerged on March 18 ahead of the phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, rejected Russia’s claims, while President Volodymyr Zelensky neither confirmed nor denied Ukrainian operations in Belgorod Oblast. According to the Ukrainian military, Russia used the command post to plan and conduct combat operations against Ukrainian soldiers in Sumy Oblast.Sumy Oblast borders Russia’s Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod oblasts. Amid Russia’s breakthrough in embattled Kursk Oblast, Zelensky said on March 15 that Russian soldiers were amassing at the border to prepare to launch an attack on Ukraine’s northeastern region. Demidovka lies around five kilometers (three miles) east of the Ukrainian border.”Its (command post’s) elimination significantly reduces the ability of the units of the Third Motor Rifle Division of the Russian Federation to operate effectively on the battlefield,” the statement read.The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims. “We have seen a new concentration of troops on the border with Sumy Oblast. We can see what they want to do — they want to strike Sumy, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts,” Zelensky said on March 18 when asked about alleged Ukraine’s offensive on Belgorod Oblast. “We will not let them do it so easily.” Belgorod Oblast is regularly used by Russia to launch strikes against Ukrainian territory. At the same time, Belgorod Oblast authorities have repeatedly accused Ukraine of launching attacks against the region and Belgorod city throughout the full-scale war.Recently, multiple clashes have been reported in the region amid Ukraine’s ongoing cross-border incursion focused on neighboring Kursk Oblast.Ukraine denies Russian claims of thwarted attempt to invade Belgorod Oblast — here’s what we knowOn March 18, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had stopped a significant Ukrainian ground assault from entering Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, a claim that Ukraine swiftly denied as a propaganda effort.
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