Ukraine gained “valuable information” from the cross-border incursion into Russia’s Belgorod region, Andriy Yusov, a representative for Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency, said in an interview with Ukrainian media on Friday.
This week saw a group of anti-Putin Russian nationals, aligned with the Ukrainian army, claim responsibility for an attack in Belgorod, a raid that was embarrassing to Russia.
"As a result of the operation in the Belgorod region, valuable information for Ukrainian military intelligence was collected, which for obvious reasons will not be disclosed," Yusov said.
He also said that the purpose of the incursion was to accelerate “the exhaustion of Putin's power apparatus,” as well as to reveal “Russia's vulnerability to internal attacks.”
Yusov’s comments echoed the claims of Wagner group chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who said on Tuesday that Russian Volunteer Corps groups are really acting as “combat reconnaissance” to try to learn how Russians will act if their border is crossed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of protecting borders near the combat zone while ensuring the rapid delivery of everything needed to the regions newly-occupied by Russia, in his Border Guard Day address on Saturday.
"A separate and very significant task is to reliably protect the borders in the immediate vicinity of the combat zone,” Putin said.
Read more about the Belgorod cross-border attacks here.