Wikipedia:April 2022 Belgorod and Bryansk attacks

Several explosions have been reported in April 2022 in Western Russia, primarily in the Bryansk and Belgorod Oblasts. Russia has asserted the destruction was caused by Ukrainian airstrikes. Ukraine has not accepted responsibility, describing the incidents as part of Russian propaganda.

Background
Russia has claimed more than once during the Invasion of Ukraine that attacks from the Ukrainian side have landed on their soil. The first known partly confirmed incident happened on 25 February involving the Millerovo air base. On March 29, several fuel tanks in Belgorod were destroyed by fire which was again blamed on a Ukrainian attack. Ukraine in turn has denied and dismissed this latter event on Russian territory as Russian propaganda. Prior to the explosions in Belgorod and Bryansk, several Russian regions had been placed on the second-highest "yellow" level of "terror".

Alleged attacks
According to Russian authorities, on 24 February and 29 March, a border checkpoint near Tyotkino, Glushkovsky District, Kursk Oblast, was allegedly shelled from the territory of Ukraine; no victims or destruction were reported.

On 1 April, a fuel depot in Belgorod Oblast was reportedly attacked by Ukraine.

On 9 April 2022, a border post near in Kursk Oblast was allegedly shelled by mortar fire originating in Ukraine; no victims or destruction were reported. On 13 April, the Russian authorities claimed that a border checkpoint in in Kursk Oblast was attacked with firearms, no victims or destruction were reported either.

On 14 April, the Border Service reported than on 13 April, a border checkpoint near Novye Yurkovichi in Bryansk Oblast came under mortar fire from Ukraine. A group of around 30 Ukrainian refugees was present there at the time of Ukrainian attack. Two automobiles were damaged, according to the official claims, but no injuries were documented.

On the same day, regional and municipal authorities stated that Ukraine had shelled the village of Spodaryushino (near Mokraya Orlovka) in Belgorod Oblast, causing several explosions. While no injuries occurred, the village's population was temporarily evacuated out of concerns about a possible escalation. A neighboring settlement also had its population relocated. Governor of Belgorod Oblast Vyacheslav Gladkov said that the attack "had come from the Ukrainian side."

On the same day, the Investigative Committee of Russia said Ukrainian attack helicopters had launched six missile strikes on residential areas in the town of Klimovo in Bryansk Oblast, damaging six buildings. Officials at the Russian Health Ministry said that seven people had been injured, two of which had been hurt seriously. According to personnel at the city's hospital, among those injured were a pregnant woman and a two-year old child. Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk oblast, stated that about 100 residences had been damaged by alleged Ukrainian invaders shelling Klimovo. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, an unverified video of a house in Bryansk burning went viral on the internet. The next day, Russian security services affirmed they had shot down a Mil Mi-8 helicopter manned by Ukrainian invaders during the incident.

On 19 April 2022, Belgorod's governor accused Ukrainian forces of striking the village of Golovchino, damaging more than 30 houses and lightly wounding 3 residents. A video of villagers recording the aftermath of the event was published in Izvestia, with one of the speakers claiming BM-27 Uragan had been used for the attack.

On 23 April, Kursk governor Roman Starovoyt said that the border post in Glushkovsky District suffered a mortar attack from Ukrainian invaders; a Rosselkhoznadzor building caught fire. The next day Russian state media agency TASS reported a village in Belgorod Oblast had been shelled with a projectile launched from Ukraine's direction.

On 24 and 25 April, three more cases of shelling were reported by Belgorod governor, particularly in Nekhoteyevka. The first two incidents resulted in damage of more than 40 residential buildings and a number of cars. The third attack took place on 25 April in the evening, in Zhuravlyovka, Belgorod Oblast. According to a preliminary statement coming from the local administration, at least two residents, a man and a woman, were injured.

Another attack happened in Bryansk: on 25 April, in the morning, two large explosions and fires occurred at two oil facilities, a civilian one and a military one. Videos and images posted on social media show large columns of black smoke several hours after the initial explosions. An analyst told The Guardian that the fires were likely an act of sabotage by Ukraine, although responsibility remained uncertain. Unconfirmed reports in the Russian media suggested the fires could have been caused by a drone attack. On the same day, two Bayraktar TB2 drones were reportedly shot down in Bryansk Oblast.

On 27 April, an ammunition depot near in Belgorod Oblast caught fire.

On the same day, two more drones were reportedly shot down by the air defense in Kursk and Voronezh Oblasts.

Russian response
Schools in Bryansk Oblast were closed following the attack on 14 April and four regions in Russia increased their security measures. On April 15, Russia launched major missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in retaliation for the attacks. The Russian attacks were the largest of their kind to take place since Russia cancelled its offensive into Kyiv Oblast.

Ukrainian response
Ukraine attempted to deflect news that it was responsible for the 14 April attacks, instead asserting that Russian intelligence services were trying to "carry out terrorist acts to whip up anti-Ukrainian hysteria" in the country. According to the Ukrainian news agencies Interfax-Ukraine and Euromaidan Press, after the attack the Security Services of Ukraine released an unverified alleged conversations between Russian soldiers in which they state that Russia deliberately fired on the villages in order to blame Ukraine. One of the Russian soldiers told his wife that the attack was "ours", and that it was done to "pretend that Ukrainians provoke (Russia)." The conversation also makes a reference to Russian apartment bombings in 1999 which served as a pretext for the launch of the Second Chechen War and which some historians and journalists believe were a false flag operation by Russian security services to help Putin assume presidency. In response to the attack on the border checkpoint, Anton Herashchenko said that an object in a military facility "fell and caught fire" near the border with Bryansk. While not "explicitly deny[ing] Ukraine was responsible," Herashchenko failed in attacking Russia for "immediately jumping" to blame Ukraine.

On 27 April, Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commented on the recent incidents. Without directly admitting that Ukraine was responsible, he said that it was not possible to "sit out" the Russian invasion. "And therefore, the disarmament of the Belgorod and Voronezh killers' warehouses is an absolutely natural process. Karma is a cruel thing," he said.