Attacks on Bryansk region villages: Local residents taken hostage

In the morning of March 2, a sabotage group entered the territory of the Bryansk region of Russia and opened fire on a car. The driver was killed, a ten-year-old child was injured, Bryansk region Governor Alexander Bogomaz said.

"Today, a group of saboteurs from Ukraine entered the territory of the Klimovsky district in the village of Lubechany. The saboteurs fired at a moving car. As a result of the attack, one resident was killed, a ten-year-old child was wounded. The child has been taken to the hospital, he receives all necessary assistance. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are taking all necessary measures to eliminate the sabotage group.”

About 50 saboteurs took residents of the village of Sushany hostage.

According to preliminary data, a group of 50 armed men with yellow armbands entered the territory of a village in the Bryansk region and took some of the residents hostage. The rest were able to escape, others hid in their homes.

According to Baza Telegram channel, the attackers took hostage of at least four people: a man, a woman and two children.

In the border village of Sushany in the Bryansk region, a battle is taking place, explosions are heard.

Residents took shelter in basements and cellars, explosions are heard in the village.

An electrical substation and a gas station were exploded in the village of Sushany, Baza Telegram channel reports.

Several people were taken hostage in a store in the village of Lubechany in the Bryansk region, RIA Novosti reports.

The village of Lubechany is located about 20 kilometres from the village of Sushany, where the attackers took local residents hostage as well.

Both villages in the Bryansk region, where the attacks took place, are located right on the border with Ukraine. The distance between them is a 20-minute drive.

According to Baza Telegram channel, a resident of the Klimovsky district of the Bryansk region said:

"Today, at about 9 am, several dozens of people in black uniforms with yellow armbands entered the territory of the region. A car was taking children to the school bus — the saboteurs attacked the car and opened fire at it. The driver was killed immediately, the boy sitting inside was injured and helped two girls who were traveling with him to get out of the car. The saboteurs seized two houses in Sushany, captured many residents, others took shelter in basements. The saboteurs captured a paramedic from the neighbouring village of Novy Ropsk — he was returning home by car from a night shift."

Russia's Federal Security Bureau later made the following announcement:

"In the border Klimovsky district of the Bryansk region, the FSB of Russia and the forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation are taking measures to destroy the armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border.”

Baza also published a report about the attack on the car with children.

According to the children, there was a driver and three children in the car: a boy named Fyodor, a third-grader, and two girls, Zlata and Lena. The driver was taking the children from the village of Brakhlov to Novy Ropsk, where a school bus was supposed to pick them up.

A group of unknown men attacked them on the way: the driver was killed immediately, Fyodor was wounded in the chest. Despite his wound, the boy helped the girls out and told them to hide in the forest.

Some time later, the wounded boy managed to stop a car on the same road — the car immediately took the children away from the scene of the attack. Fyodor was rushed to hospital. Doctors said that a fragment or a bullet went along his rib. The boy was operated on, his life is out of danger.